Los Angeles Sweet Digs

May 8, 2008

Can It Be?? Westchester Homes Are On The Rise

21207918 Can It Be?? Westchester Homes Are On The Rise

Because I’m selling my home (still), I thought it was time to perform a little market investigation on how the overall Westchester market was doing on the home-selling front. And lo and behold, I could hardly believe my eyes. Westchester single-family home sales have actually increased in price from March 2007 to March 2008, according to DQNews.com. Here, in a sea of housing prices going down, Westchester – just north of the Los Angeles International Airport, has gone up 2.3% in median price since last year. A handful of other Los Angeles neighborhoods have gone up, including Bell (anyone actually been out there?), the 91741 zip code of Glendora, Ladera Heights, Rancho Park, and Westwood. Incidentally, Marina del Rey went up a whopping 47.4%.

Surely there must be an explanation for the mini-jump in Westchester prices. I’ve seen an increase in homes going for under $600,000 in the area, whereas mid last year, there were none on the market. And as more than one of our blog readers have commented – what the heck is so special about Westchester? Well, I personally love this little residential, family-friendly neighborhood, but I suspect that the construction and sales of the fancy residences at One Westbluff by Standard Pacific Homes may have something to do with the increase. After all, the Morea collection starts at the low $1,800,000′s and the Ariel collection starts at the upper $2,400,000′s. That’s over two and three times the current median price of Westchester homes, respectively. In case you were wondering, the median price is currently at $754,500 according to Redfin.

If any of you think you have a better answer as to why the prices have gone up, I’m happy to hear your comments.

Posted by Christina Chan on May 8, 2008 7:00 AM | del.icio.us | Digg

  • FYI-

    I spotted this thread with another perspective on buying new construction.

    http://forums.redfin.com/rf/bo...
  • Thanks for the comment, m rogers.

    I haven't checked back there lately, but I would guess they're actually able to sell at those prices. Some of the more upscale markets aren't going down, they've actually held steady or have gone up.
  • m rogers
    I am amazed that Standard Pacific increased the prices so much in One Westbluff for the houses that remain available. I had been looking up there for several months, thinking that the prices would come down - considering the market. In the past 2 or 3 months, they actually increased the cost of 7597 Coastal View Drive for more than a million dollars! What gives?
  • By the way, if anyone wants to see what the prices were listed at from the developer back in September of 07, see my older post.

    http://losangeles.redfin.com/b...
  • Lisa-

    Thanks for adding to this discussion! Your comments are always appreciated. I know you have a pretty good take on the market out here as well. It's always good to hear opinions other my own.

    -Christina
  • Lisa
    I agree that Westchester and the Westside have been holding steady relative to just about all other areas in socal.

    Regarding the prices of Ariel...Ariel is now sold out. The last remaining Ariel homes were being advertised as low as 1.6 M in the mls when they were still for sale a couple months ago. My guess is that now that they are sold out, they want them to appear as if they had sold for more. Maybe so the Moorea ones now look like a better deal. Or maybe I'm too into conspiracy theories :)

    I am seeing several westbluff homes recently on the market. I agree that it will be interesting to see if these homes move and at what price.
  • Thanks for the comment Edgar. Regarding mixing up Morea and Ariel, please take a look at this link.

    http://www.standardpacifichome...

    According to this page, Ariel does indeed start at the high 2.4 mil range and Morea starts at the low 1.8 range. If there's a mix-up, then it's coming straight from the builder's page.

    And yes, I'd be interested in seeing the stats on those homes in the near future as well!
  • Edgar
    I agree with Lisa's comments. The sample size is too small for statistical significance.

    Also, I think you got Moorea and Ariel backwards. Ariel is the cheaper of the two. I'd be interested in how many of the West Bluff homes (a) have yet to sell (Standard Pacific still holding them), (b) are in default/foreclosure/have been foreclosed or (c) are for sale by their owner (after less than 2 years of ownership). That would be a good story about the strength of the premium market in Westchester/PDR.
  • Hi Lisa-

    Thanks for the comment. Is it safe to say you're keeping really good records? : )

    I agree. I think all of the above listed factors are valid when you want to see how the market is doing overall. It really depends on what you're looking for.

    On the other hand, although I think keeping all the variables in mind is important - the fact that Westchester hasn't shown signs of plummeting as much as other parts of Los Angeles is still something and the fact that there are homes that are selling at a high price does show the market has movement.

    As for Playa del Rey - all I can say is it's starting to look like a volatile stock. I'd like to see how the area looks over the next few months.
  • Lisa
    For cities like Westchester and Playa, these figures should be taken with a grain (or tablespoon!) of salt. This price is based on 16 sales in Westchester. One very high priced sale compared to last year would definitely skew the prices up. Take for instance last month, Playa del Rey was up year-over-year and Westchester was down. Now this month, Westchester is a little up and Playa del Rey is down 28 percent!!

    It's an interesting indicator to see the trends in the area, but a better year-to-year measure would be:

    1. cost/square foot
    2. number of sales
    3. number of days on market/price reductions

    Dataquick supposedly has all this info, but you have to pay them for it (or keep really thorough records :) ).
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