LA Westside BlogPOINT

Last week, Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier celebrated its 15th year as the only admission-free amusement park on LA's Westside (or city for that matter).  If you've never been there, well you're missing a great time and opportunity to connect with one of Santa Monica's oldest landmarks.

The pier originally debuted in 1909 and has had a colorful history to say the least.  The original version of the 'pleasure pier' began construction in 1916 and during the Depression era was shut down and sold off in sections.  The Ballroom was lost in the early 70's and the entire pier was nearly lost in 1973 when the city bought it and contemplated tearing it down.

It managed to survive nonetheless and it received a historic landmark designation in the 80's and a restoration project formed and a rebirth ensued. 

Pacific Park opened in 1996 as a full-blown amusment park with many new features, rides and attractions.  Today, it's going strong and if you're looking for something to do some weekend, this could be just the ticket for a day of family fun.

This report will provide a quick overview as to how the Westside micro-markets are currently performing and then compares that data to the same period a year ago.  The key market indicators are:

Pending Sales Activity - sometimes referred to as the 'Number of Properties Under Contract'.  This is a forward-looking indicator of current sales activity where there has been an accepted offer and escrow has opened.

Median Sales Price - that point at which half of the properties have sold for a greater amount and half have sold for a lesser amount.  This indicator pinpoints where in the price spectrum homes have sold rather than reflecting a drop in home value.  There is a common mis-perception that a drop in the MSP directly indicates a drop in home value.  It is far more likely that the drop indicates either smaller, older and/or homes in lower-priced areas have sold during the period.

Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) - a leading indicator of market supply, which directly impacts pricing.  Generally, a five to six month supply indicates market equilibrium while anything less signals a 'seller's market' and anything above a 'buyer's market'.  

   Information not guaranteed.  © 2009 Terradatum and its suppliers and licensors (http://www.terradatum.com/metrics/licensors)

To view a portfolio of four additional reports trended over the past 12 months:  Properties For Sale, Days On Market, New Properties For Sale and Supply & Demand, visit the Market Sales Data section.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this data at greater length, just drop me a note or call.

Today, May 9, 2011 is the first day of the new hillside regulations established for the Single-Family Zones by the Baseline Hillside Ordinance No. 181624.  For a copy of the final adopted Ordinance, please go to the following link:  Baseline Ordinance. 

These new provisions may have significant impact on property construction in all of the hills of the LA Westside.  Just to clarify for all, any property zoned R1, RS, RE, or RA which is designated as Hillside Area pursuant to Section 12.03 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) is now subject to the Baseline Hillside Ordinance.  

The MLS has released comparative data for the first quarter of this and the two preceding years for SFR homes in the broader market extending from Downtown to Santa Monica.  Property Median Price, Dollar Sales Volume and the number of transactions are examined here and present some interesting observations.

The 54% increase in Median Price from two years ago suggests that buyers are purchasing less distressed properties (Real Estate Owned or REOs which are mistakenly referred to as Foreclosures) and more Standard Sale (non-distress) listings.  This data should not be interpretted that home values have necessarily enjoyed a boost and in fact, the most recent Case-Shiller index of home values shows a February to March decline of 2.1% for the greater Los Angeles area.

You should bear in mind that real estate is hyper-local and each Westside micro-market (Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Santa Monica, etc.) is unique (especially when compared to the greater Los Angeles area) and should be examined individually when forming an opinion on when to buy and pricing. 

That information is always available to you in the Market Sales Data section.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this at greater length just drop me a note - I'm always here to help.

 This is a community alert bulletin issued by the Brentwood Community Council:

President Obama will be here on the Westside tomorrow afternoon beginning with a visit to Sony Studios in Culver City at 4:30PM for a fundraising event and then over to The Tavern (San Vicente at Darlington) in Brentwood for dinner, which should hamstring traffic well into the evening.  Plan accordingly!

This report will provide a quick overview as to how the Westside micro-markets are currently performing and then compares that data to the same period a year ago.  The key market indicators are:

Pending Sales Activity - sometimes referred to as the 'Number of Properties Under Contract'.  This is a forward-looking indicator of current sales activity where there has been an accepted offer and escrow has opened.

Median Sales Price - that point at which half of the properties have sold for a greater amount and half have sold for a lesser amount.  This indicator pinpoints where in the price spectrum homes have sold rather than reflecting a drop in home value.  There is a common mis-perception that a drop in the MSP directly indicates a drop in home value.  It is far more likely that the drop indicates either smaller, older and/or homes in lower-priced areas have sold during the period.

Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) - a leading indicator of market supply, which directly impacts pricing.  Generally, a five to six month supply indicates market equilibrium while anything less signals a 'seller's market' and anything above a 'buyer's market'.  

   Information not guaranteed.  © 2009 Terradatum and its suppliers and licensors (http://www.terradatum.com/metrics/licensors)

To view a portfolio of four additional reports trended over the past 12 months:  Properties For Sale, Days On Market, New Properties For Sale and Supply & Demand, visit the Market Sales Data section.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this data at greater length, just drop me a note or call.

This report will provide a quick overview as to how the Westside micro-markets are currently performing and then compares that data to the same period a year ago.  The key market indicators are:

Pending Sales Activity - sometimes referred to as the 'Number of Properties Under Contract'.  This is a forward-looking indicator of current sales activity where there has been an accepted offer and escrow has opened.

Median Sales Price - that point at which half of the properties have sold for a greater amount and half have sold for a lesser amount.  This indicator pinpoints where in the price spectrum homes have sold rather than reflecting a drop in home value.  There is a common mis-perception that a drop in the MSP directly indicates a drop in home value.  It is far more likely that the drop indicates either smaller, older and/or homes in lower-priced areas have sold during the period.

Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) - a leading indicator of market supply, which directly impacts pricing.  Generally, a five to six month supply indicates market equilibrium while anything less signals a 'seller's market' and anything above a 'buyer's market'. 

    Information not guaranteed.  © 2009 Terradatum and its suppliers and licensors (http://www.terradatum.com/metrics/licensors)

To view a portfolio of four additional reports trended over the past 12 months:  Properties For Sale, Days On Market, New Properties For Sale and Supply & Demand, visit the Market Sales Data section.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this data at greater length, just drop me a note or call. 

We've witnessed the substantial increase in mortgage rates over the past 9 weeks and now we're confronted with another dimension of financial challenge.  The Obama administration is looking for ways to trim back the two housing finance giants - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  The consensus is that there'll never be a more favorable combination of rates and terms than what exists right now.

Some of the remedies being considered in Congress include:  higher insurance fees on FHA annual premiums, reduction in loan amounts backed by Fannie and Freddie in higher-cost areas such as Los Angeles (set to take place 10/1/11), increase fees to lenders who package their mortgages for resale in the secondary money market which then are automatically passed on to the consumer and increasing the minimum down payment size to 20% to 30% to meet a new standard of a 'qualified residential mortgage'. 

I doubt that all of these measures would become reality, but some could and at minimum this article that appeared this week in the LA Times signals the kind of thinking around Washington these days.  It ended on an ominous note:  "Bottom line:  Get ready to pay more for mortgages, no matter what happens to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." 

So if you're thinking that waiting a little longer might be better to capture a lower price, you may find that any price savings could easily be overshadowed by increased mortgage costs.  Buying sooner could be better than later. . . .

This report will provide a quick overview as to how the Westside micro-markets are currently performing and then compares that data to the same period a year ago.  The key market indicators are:

Pending Sales Activity - sometimes referred to as the 'Number of Properties Under Contract'.  This is a forward-looking indicator of current sales activity where there has been an accepted offer and escrow has opened.

Median Sales Price - that point at which half of the properties have sold for a greater amount and half have sold for a lesser amount.  This indicator pinpoints where in the price spectrum homes have sold rather than reflecting a drop in home value.  There is a common mis-perception that a drop in the MSP directly indicates a drop in home value.  It is far more likely that the drop indicates either smaller, older and/or homes in lower-priced areas have sold during the period.

Months Supply of Inventory (MSI) - a leading indicator of market supply, which directly impacts pricing.  Generally, a five to six month supply indicates market equilibrium while anything less signals a 'seller's market' and anything above a 'buyer's market'.

   Information not guaranteed.  © 2009 Terradatum and its suppliers and licensors (http://www.terradatum.com/metrics/licensors)

To view a portfolio of four additional reports trended over the past 12 months:  Properties For Sale, Days On Market, New Properties For Sale and Supply & Demand, visit the Market Sales Data section.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this data at greater length, just drop me a note or call.