Rich Kids Real Estate Slick Architectural Sale - $875,00 - The Penthouse - 7917 Willoughby
What I am noticing is that there is a common theme between the market activity at The Rob Clark (which I reported on yesterday) and that of the West Hollywood/Beverly Hills areas. After putting together a quantitative analysis of 2009 vs. 2010, the following themes have remained constant across the board: higher sales volume in 2010, smaller gap between list vs. sale (meaning sellers are starting to price per what the market is dictating), and a slight dip in actual sales price this year compared to last of roughly a few percent. Why I like doing these end of the year comparisons is that it really provides a complete snapshot of market trends and allows one to objectively compare the two years side by side. I think often people like to toss out ideas as to "what's going on in the market" (especially at cocktail or dinner parties) without a lot of hard fact to back it up. *Side Note: I have also combined the condo sales in what we term "Beverly Center" area in The MLS into this report, which for all intents and purposes is pretty much WeHo when it comes to condos.*
Let's bust out our nerd glasses with the white tape in the center and dig into a hearty bowl (not that kind, stoners) of statistics:
West Hollywood/Beverly Center Condos 2009
Number of units sold - 394
Average days on the market - 95
Median sales price - $520,000
Highest sales price - $1,775,000
Average price per square foot - $444.14
Average square feet of residence - 1249 sq ft
Difference in list price vs. selling price - 6.07%
West Hollywood/Beverly Center Condos 2010
Number of units sold - 431
Average days on the market - 74
Median sales price - $509,000
Highest sales price - $3,875,000 (This has got to be Sierra Towers)
Average price per square foot - $421.40
Average square feet of residence - 1260
Difference in list price vs. selling price - 3.62%
Beverly Hills Condos 2009
Number of units sold - 66
Average days on the market - 85
Median sales price - $835,000
Highest sales price - $11,250,000
Average price per square foot - $626.01
Average square feet of residence - 2246 sq ft
Difference in list price vs. selling price - 5.32%
Beverly Hills Condos 2010
Number of units sold - 86
Average days on the market - 114
Median sales price - $813,000
Highest sales price - $10,650,000
Average price per square foot - $623
Average square feet of residence - 1940
Difference in list price vs. selling price - 4.53%
Rich Kids For Sale - 8787 Shoreham - The Sunset Strip - $499,995
As you can see, the trends are fairly consistent. From my own personal experience, I found that in early 2009, buyers were very hesitant to make purchases while waiting to see how the market was going to rebound after the nuclear meltdown that was fall 2008. By fourth quarter, consumer confidence was on an upswing and I literally did all my business for the year from August through January 1. Ironically this was what Wells Fargo had predicted during a particularly depressing sales meeting in late fall 2008 where Prozac (just kidding...kind of) was being passed out to agents along with the coffee and doughnuts (in a recession, there was nary a Sprinkles Cupcake to be seen for many months at a meeting). Like I have said before, these reports are telling us that there are more buyers out there making purchases (although when you look at the numbers, there is not what I would consider an uber substantial increase), but are looking for value. Again, much like the Rob Clark, 2010 brought forth a lot of short sales that were in the pipelines in 2009 thus lowering the actual comps.
Since we are making comparisons, something else interesting to note is that Beverly Hills saw a decrease in highest sale price of $600,000 and the median square footage dropped by 306 sq ft. West Hollywood saw an increase in both of these areas over the last year. I don't think there is anything that is overly telling about this other than just an observation.
I haven't yet finished my computations (I am loving words like computations, quantities...I feel like a mathematician, which was never my favorite subject in school), but from what I have experienced, 2010 was the year of the well priced single family home. You could purchase a terrific little house for $595,000 (as you saw with my sale on Kirkwood). Properties similar to that and priced under 1 million seemed to be the hot ticket item. As always, the numbers will tell us if that's truth or just perception. Wasn't that mysterious and deep? Stayed glued to your PC because Part 3 is just around the corner!
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