DQNews Archived Article

Robust Million-Dollar Home Sales in California

by Real Estate Analyst John Karevoll
December, 2000

La Jolla, CA.— While sales of million-dollar homes in the Golden State eased slightly during the third quarter, the number sold so far this year has already surpassed the sales count for all of last year, a real estate information service reported.

A total of 2,976 California homes were sold for a million dollars or more during the July-to-September period. That was down 9.6 percent from 3,293 for the previous quarter, and up 36.8 percent from 2,175 for last year's third quarter, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

The sales count for this year's second quarter was an all time high. During the first nine months of this year 8,494 homes sold for more than a million dollars. The sales count was 7,553 for all of 1999.

"Most of the increase in sales is due to appreciation. A lot of homes that would have been in the near million-dollar category a year ago, are selling at prices above the threshold now," said Mike Ela, DataQuick president.

Bay Area third-quarter sales totaled 1,453, up 64.4 percent from 884 for the same period last year. The Southern California total was up 15.4 percent from 1,161 for last year's third quarter to 1,340. The sales rate for million-dollar homes in the Bay Area passed Southern California last May.

The most expensive purchase last quarter was a 10,280 square-foot 6-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom Atherton house which went for $22,000,000 in July. The largest was a 15,660 square-foot 10-bedroom, 11-bathroom Rancho Santa Fe house on 6.5 acres which went for $6,400,000, also in July.

DataQuick, a business unit of 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.

Fifty of the homes went for $5 million or more, 36 were in the $4 million range, 93 in the $3 million range, 303 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 107 condo sales in the million-dollar category, mostly in West Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The median size of a million-dollar home was 2,910 sq.ft. with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. The median price per square-foot for all million-dollar homes was $478, up 11.0 percent from $430 a year ago, DataQuick reported.

Around 21 percent of the buyers paid cash. Of those who financed their purchase, the median down payment was $517,000. Lending institutions most willing to provide financing were Washington Mutual, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Zip	Community	3Q99 Sales#	3Q00 Sales#	3Q00's Most Expensive
Saratoga	95070	66	92	$6.5 mill.
Rancho Santa Fe	92067	80	73	$7.0 mill.
Hillsborough	94010	57	71	$7.5 mill.
Los Altos	94024	39	59	$3.7 mill.
Los Altos	94022	36	57	$11.5 mill.
Danville	94506	32	55	$8.5 mill.
San Jose	95138	17	51	$3.0 mill.
Manhattan Beach	90266	46	50	$2.7 mill.
Newport Beach	92660	45	49	$4.9 mill.
Rolling Hills Est	90274	57	48	$7.4 mill.
La Jolla	92037	41	47	$7.5 mill.
Cupertino	95014	17	45	$2.9 mill.
Beverly Hills	90210	49	43	$6.6 mill.
Malibu	90265	25	42	$17.0 mill.
Belvedere Tiburon	94920	42	42	$5.5 mill.
Mill Valley	94941	29	41	$2.9 mill.
Los Gatos	95030	27	41	$4.5 mill.
Menlo Park	94025	31	40	$4.5 mill.
Pacific Palisades	90272	42	39	$4.0 mill.
Alamo	94507	9	39	$6.0 mill.
Los Gatos	95032	10	37	$2.4 mill.

Source: DataQuick Information Systems

Media Inquiries: John Karevoll (909)867-9534

Copyright © 2000 DataQuick Information Systems.
All rights reserved.

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