Santa Monica Market Round-Up: Feburary - April 2009

Single Family. Sales activity has picked up in Santa Monica since January, when only four houses sold. Nineteen homes sold in the February – April 2009 period, with a median sale price of $1,775,000. Bucking the trend of other neighborhoods, only one of these properties was a short sale, and none was bank-owned.

Sales volume is off more than 50% from the same period in 2008 (41 sales), and more than 75% from the same period in 2006 and 2007 (82 sales both years). The combined effects of difficult financing and the yawning gap between buyer and seller pricing has contributed to the current languishing of the Santa Monica market.

During the same February – April 2009 period, 46 single family listings in Santa Monica expired, with an average list price of $2,272,000.

703 Palisades Beach Road

Freshly built or remodeled properties seem to dominate the high-end of sales activity. 703 Palisades Beach Road, on the Santa Monica “Gold Coast”, sold for $6,500,000, below its $7,350,000 asking price, after 39 days on the market. The home, within spitting distance of the ocean, has a pool, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, and 3,198 sq ft of living area on a 5,700 sq ft lot.

821 Georgina Avenue

821 Georgina Avenue, on one of the most sought-after streets north of Montana, sold for $3,883,300, slightly below its $3,995,000 asking price, after a brief nine days on the market. Originally constructed in 2000, this newly-remodeled Mediterranean palazzo has 5 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4,650 sq ft of living area on an 8,270 sq ft lot, and a pool.

1008 Bay Street

It’s still possible to benefit from low interest rates in the “jumbo conforming” category in Santa Monica. 1008 Bay Street, a 1,000 sq ft 2 bedroom, 1 bath Spanish bungalow on a large 6,499 sq ft lot, closed at $825,000, close to its $849,000 asking price. The same home sold for $850,000 in October 2004.

(click chart for more detail)

Like in other neighborhoods, sales activity in Santa Monica has picked up quite substantially. Fifteen homes went into contract in March. Eighteen homes went into contract in April. The months supply of inventory in Santa Monica has fallen from a multi-year high of 22 months in February to 8 months in April. After sales figures plummeted in the September 2008 – February 2009 period, the Santa Monica market seems well on its road to recovery.

Condos. Condos of all stripes sold in the February – April 2009 period. 64 condo sales closed, including twelve for $1 million or more. The median sale price was $640,000. Eight of these sales were bank-owned.