DQNews Archived Article

California Million-Dollar Home Sales Surge

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
April, 2000

La Jolla, CA.— The number of Golden State homes that sold for a million dollars or more surged to a new high during the first quarter, the result of a booming economy and newly-generated wealth, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 2,222 million-dollar homes were sold during the January-to-March period. That was up 12.8 percent from 1,969 for the previous three-month period, and up 73.7 percent from 1,279 for last year's first quarter, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

Last quarter's sales count was the highest ever, passing 1999's third quarter count of 2,175. While much of the current surge in million-dollar sales is due to an active prestige-home market, most of the sales increase can be attributed to appreciation, which has brought many 'almost' million-dollar homes across the million-dollar threshold.

"This is a unique market that responds to its own set of rules. Increases in mortgage interest rates, for example, don't have the same effect on million-dollar sales as they do on the rest of the real estate market. Right now, though, we're keeping a close eye on the stock market. The effect of the recent ups and downs won't be evident for another month, if indeed there is any effect," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

While sales were up in all regions, Bay Area increases were strongest. Million-dollar home sales were up 117.1 percent in that region, from 468 for last year's first quarter to 1,016 for this year's first quarter. Sales in Southern California were up 45.0 percent, from 722 to 1,021.

DataQuick, which was sold last month to Vancouver-based MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.

The numbers include home sales where it could be determined from public records 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.

The most expensive home sold during the quarter was a 7-bedroom, 9.5-bathroom Rancho Santa Fe estate, with a lot of acreage, which went for $22 million in January.

The largest home sold was also in San Diego County: a 22,997 square-foot, 10-bedroom, 17.5-bathroom home in Coronado which went for $5.5 million in February.

Twenty-nine of the homes went for $5 million or more, 28 were in the $4 million range, 86 in the $3 million range, 257 in the $2 million range and the rest between $1 million and $2 million.

Atherton and Rancho Santa Fe were the communities with the highest portion of million-dollar sales relative to overall sales. There were 97 condo sales in the million-dollar category, mostly in West Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The median size of a million-dollar home was 2,972 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $509, up 19.3 percent from $427 a year ago, DataQuick reported.

Around 24 percent of the buyers paid cash. Of the remaining who used a mortgage, the median down payment was $484,500. Lending institutions most willing to provide financing were Bank of America, Washington Mutual, and First Nationwide Bank.

Saratoga 95070 topped the zip code list with 90 sales, followed by Hillsborough 94010 with 73 and Rancho Santa Fe 92067 with 50, DataQuick reported.

Zip	Community	1Q99 Sales#	1Q00 Sales#	1Q00's Most Expensive
95070	Saratoga	36	90	$5.8 mill.
94010	Hillsborough	52	73	$5.6 mill.
92067	Rancho Santa Fe	42	50	$22.0 mill.
94022	Los Altos	29	50	$6.2 mill
94024	Los Altos	23	48	$3.1 mill
90210	Beverly Hills			$4.6 mill
92037	La Jolla	32	40	$8.9 mill.
90274	Palos Verdes, RH Estates	21	39	$10.0 mill.
95014	Cupertino	5	39	$2.3 mill.
90266	Manhattan Beach	15	37	$2.8 mill.
90272	Pacific Palisades	22	36	$3.8 mill.
92660	Newport Beach	12	35	$4.8 mill
94920	Belvedere Tiburon	20	34	$3.0 mill.
94506	Danville	11	33	$2.8 mill
95030	Los Gatos	13	33	$6.0 mill.
92651	Laguna Beach	20	30	$3.5 mill.
90402	Santa Monica	15	29	$2.5 mill.
94025	Menlo Park	17	28	$3.3 mill.
94941	Mill Valley	12	26	$4.3 mill
92118	Coronado	4	25	$5.5 mill.
92625	Corona Del Mar	15	25	$2.4 mill
91302	Calabasas	16	23	$2.5 mill.
90265	Malibu	19	21	$4.7 mill.
92014	Del Mar	10	20	$5.0 mill.
92024	Encinitas	14	20	$2.5 mill.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 2000 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.

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