DQNews Archived Article

Surge in million-dollar home sales

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
January, 1998

La Jolla, CA.— Sales of million-dollar homes in California jumped more than forty percent last year to their highest level in seven years, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 3,762 Golden State residences were sold for a million dollars or more in 1997. That was up 41.9 percent from 2,651 for the year before, and it was the highest number since 3,774 were sold in 1990, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

"The prestige home market recovered earlier than other real estate market categories. We expect it to continue to outperform other markets this year," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

"In addition to high sales counts, the numbers are up because a lot of homes that would have sold for $800,000 or $900,000 a year or two ago, are crossing the threshold and are now selling for more than a million dollars," he said.

The increase in million-dollar sales was particularly strong in Silicon Valley where sales virtually doubled in Saratoga, Los Altos, Palo Alto and Los Gatos (see chart). The bulk of California's million-dollar sales is still in the Malibu-Santa Monica-West Los Angeles region.

The most expensive confirmed sale of 1997 was for a 17,322 square-foot, nine-bedroom, nine-bathroom house on 3.2 acres in Rancho Santa Fe. It went for $7,526,500 in March.

DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide. These numbers include home sales where it could be determined that there was a buyer, a seller, that money changed hands and that there was a legal transfer of property ownership. Not included were property swaps, sales of multiple lots, teardowns and large farm or ranch properties. Sales to companies were included as were sales to trusts.

Ten homes sold for more than $6 million, 13 were sold in the $5 million range, 16 were in the $4 million range, 64 in the $3 million range, 261 were in the $2 million range and the rest sold for between $1 million and $2 million.

The largest home was a 5-bedroom, 9-bathroom 19,812 sq.ft. house in Bel Air which went for $5.35 million. The median size of a million-dollar home was 3,680 sq.ft. Bathrooms outnumber bedrooms in almost all million-dollar homes.

There were 103 condo sales in the million-dollar category, mostly in West Los Angeles and San Francisco, DataQuick reported.

The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $360 last year, up from $331 for 1996. The all-time high was in 1989 at $390.

Almost a third of the buyers pay cash. Of the remaining who need a mortgage, the median down payment was $400,000. Lending institutions most willing to provide financing were Bank of America, Chase Manhattan and American Savings.

The ZIP Code with the highest sales count was Beverly Hills 90210 with 218, followed by Rancho Santa Fe 92067 with 143, Hillsborough 94010 with 132, Brentwood 90049 with 116 and Pacific Palisades 90272 with 107. Many cities have more than one zip code, and some zip codes straddle community boundaries. Here is a breakdown by city for major million-dollar markets:

City	1996	1997	97's Most
	Sales#	Sales#	Expensive
			(in Millions)
Los Angeles*	251	358	$6.20
Beverly Hills	185	231	$5.30
San Francisco	145	182	$5.03
Rancho Santa Fe	101	145	$7.53
Los Altos	102	127	$6.00
Hillsborough	86	120	$3.65
Pacific Palisades	73	106	$2.53
Newport Beach	77	105	$3.97
Saratoga	58	104	$3.26
Santa Monica	60	91	$3.25
Santa Barbara	53	84	$2.50
Atherton	80	83	$3.60
Belvedere Tiburon	51	79	$3.80
Malibu	66	79	$3.60
Palo Alto	35	71	$2.10
La Jolla	40	64	$3.10
Los Gatos	34	60	$2.75
Laguna Beach	34	52	$7.35
Menlo Park	19	48	$1.75
Palos Verdes Estates	28	46	$5.53
*includes Bel Air and Brentwood

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 1998 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.

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