DQNews Archived Article

Million-Dollar Home Sale Record

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
October, 1998

La Jolla, CA.— Million-dollar home sales in California reached a new peak during the third quarter, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 1,555 homes sold for a million dollars or more during the July-to-September period. That was up 5.1 percent from 1,480 for the prior quarter, and up 41.2 percent from 1,101 for last year's third quarter, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

This year's sales pace was well ahead of the prior surge of the late 1980s when million-dollar sales activity peaked at 1,246 for third-quarter 1989.

"Two things bring these numbers up. First, there has been a genuine increase in demand for prestige homes because of economic growth. Second, a lot of houses that were six-figure properties a year ago, have now crossed the million-dollar threshold because of price increases," said Mike Ela, leader of the DataQuick Products Division.

"It's a unique market, although buyers in this category are much more sensitive to turbulence in financial markets than other buyers. We expect the sales counts to level off, at least until spring," he said.

The most expensive sale of the third quarter was a seven-bathroom, five-bedroom, 10,060 square-foot home on 2.3 acres in Bel Air which went for $10 million.

Eighteen California homes sold for $5 million or more during the third quarter. Eight were in the $4 million range, 45 sold for $3 million and change, 174 sold in the $2 million range and the rest between $1 million and $2 million.

DataQuick Products Division 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.

Atherton and Rancho Santa Fe were the communities with the highest portion of million-dollar sales relative to overall sales.

There were 91 condo sales in the million-dollar category, mostly in West Los Angeles and San Francisco. The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $402 last quarter, up from $365 a year ago, DataQuick reported.

Around 20 percent of the buyers pay cash. Of the remaining who need financing, the median down payment was $390,000. Lending institutions most willing to provide financing were Bank of America, Chase Manhattan and Washington Mutual.

The ZIP Code with the highest sales count was Beverly Hills 90210 with 63, followed by Brentwood 90049 with 57, and Rancho Santa Fe 92067 with 55. Los Altos 94022 had 48 and Pacific Palisades 90272 had 43.

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	3Q97	3Q98	3Q98's Most
	Sales#	Sales#	Expensive
Los Angeles*	95	131	$10.00 mill.
Beverly Hills	67	69	$6.50 mill.
Los Altos	43	60	$3.15 mill.
San Francisco	53	59	$5.70 mill.
Rancho Santa Fe	43	57	$6.70 mill.
Pacific Palisades	30	43	$3.40 mill.
Santa Monica	25	39	$2.35 mill.
Newport Beach	22	36	$5.00 mill.
Santa Barbara	25	36	$3.64 mill.
Saratoga	27	36	$2.40 mill.
Hillsborough	46	35	$3.57 mill.
Laguna Beach	10	28	$6.00 mill.
Palos Verdes/RPV	15	27	$2.70 mill.
Malibu	31	26	$3.45 mill.
Palo Alto	29	26	$2.75 mill.
Belvedere Tiburon	25	23	$3.93 mill.
Atherton	34	21	$3.47 mill.
La Jolla	16	21	$7.10 mill.
Manhattan Beach	10	21	$2.85 mill.
Menlo Park	20	21	$2.35 mill.
*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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