DQNews Archived Article

Million-Dollar Home Sales in California Down from 1994

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
July, 1995

La Jolla, CA.—Sales of million-dollar homes in California declined somewhat during the second quarter as potential buyers took a wait-and-see attitude to the state's wobbly economic recovery, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 423 homes were sold for more than a million dollars during the April-to-June period. That was up 33.4 percent compared to 308 for the first quarter, and down 26.9 percent from 579 for last year's second quarter, DataQuick Information Systems reported.

" We've seen a lot of prime properties sell lately, often close to their asking prices. The properties that are not selling well, are those that seemed to enter the million-dollar category during the 1988/1989 price run-up. These have since come down disproportionately in value," said Donald L. Cohn, DataQuick CEO.

The high-profile million-dollar market has been the hardest hit of all housing categories during the economic slump of recent years. Sales were cut in half and sales prices declined by 35 percent and more. Prices in other home categories have declined 15-20 percent, DataQuick reported.

Most of California's very expensive homes are still sold in the Malibu-Santa Monica-Beverly Hills-West Los Angeles area (see chart). The four most expensive homes sold during the second quarter all went for around $5 million and were located in zip 90077, the community of Bel Air in Los Angeles.

Six of the million-dollar homes were sold for more than $4 million, 8 were sold for $3 to $4 million, 53 were sold for $2 to $3 million and the rest went for $1 to $2 million. Eighteen of the million-dollar homes were condos.

Zip code 90210 of television fame had the highest sales count with 40 sales, followed by nearby 90049 with 18 and 90272 (Malibu) with 16. The Bel Air zip 90077 had eight sales with the highest price average at $3.29 million.

The largest home sold was in the Los Angeles community of Hidden Hills where a 12,213 square-feet house with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms went for $3.25 million in June. Average house size for million-dollar homes was 4,390 sq.ft.

DataQuick monitors real estate transactions in California and other states. Homes bought by companies or transactions involving property trades and/or multiple parcels are not included in the numbers. Several modest homes on valuable lots are included in the numbers. These are often bought in order to be torn down and replaced with a new residence, DataQuick reported.

Many of the buyers did not have to qualify for a mortgage; 96 paid cash for their homes. Of those that did need a mortgage, the most willing lenders were Bank of America, Chase Manhattan and Home Savings.

			Most
		# Sold	Expensive
Community	# Sold	2Q94	2Q95
Beverly Hills	46	43	$4.0 mill.
Los Angeles (w/Bel Air)	78	41	$5.2 mill.
San Francisco	18	22	$2.1 mill.
Los Altos	10	16	$4.0 mill.
Pacific Palisades	18	16	$2.6 mill.
Newport Beach	24	15	$2.7 mill.
Rancho Santa Fe	21	14	$2.5 mill.
Malibu	21	12	$2.8 mill.
La Jolla	13	9	$2.6 mill.
Santa Monica	10	9	$2.8 mill.
Atherton	5	8	$2.7 mill.
Belvedere Tiburon	14	8	$2.4 mill.
Hillsborough	16	8	$1.9 mill.
Pasadena	7	8	$1.7 mill.
Saratoga	8	8	$1.7 mill.
San Marino	7	7	$2.7 mill.
Corona Del Mar	6	6	$2.8 mill.
Indian Wells	6	6	$4.1 mill.
Piedmont	6	6	$2.0 mill.
Palo Alto	5	5	$1.2 mill.
Arcadia	4	4	$1.3 mill.
Calabasas	4	4	$1.1 mill.
Danville	7	4	$1.3 mill.
Encino	6	4	$2.6 mill.
Huntington Beach	6	4	$3.8 mill.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

For more information call John Karevoll (909)867-9534

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All rights reserved.