Neighborhood by Neighborhood: The Market Is Changing

By MICHAEL EDLEN | Special to the Palisadian-Post

As of March 31, 59 single-family Palisades residences were listed in the Multiple Listing Service. The current level of inventory is 37% lower than last year’s March 31 available inventory.

A total of 40 homes were sold in the Palisades in the first quarter of 2020, which is a 21% increase from 2019. Median sale prices ($3,291,250) were up 7% from 2019’s first quarter, although sales price per square foot was 7% lower.

The median list price is currently $4,495,000, which is a 4% decrease over the same period last year. There are currently 23 escrows open in the Palisades, which is a 35% increase from the end of the first quarter last year.

The lowest-priced residence available is a three-bedroom, three-bath home on Livorno, which is being offered at $1,995,000. The highest-priced available property is a nine-bedroom, 12-bathroom on Chautauqua, which is listed at $26 million.

The most affordable areas so far in 2020 are the El Medio/Upper Bienveneda and Marquez Knolls neighborhoods. The Upper Bienveneda/Marquez and Highlands areas currently have the largest number of homes for sale in the Palisades.

The lowest sale price for the first quarter of 2020 was on Mount Holyoke ($1.56 million). The highest sale ($12.3 million) so far this year was on Turquesa Lane in the Marquez Knolls area.

There are 17 condominiums/townhouses on the market, which is 13% more than what was available at the end of the first quarter in 2019. They range from a one-bedroom, one-bath on Sunset being offered at $680,000 to a three-bedroom, four-bath that is still under construction on Tramonto for $5.3 million.

Nineteen condominiums were sold in the Palisades since the start of the year, ranging from a two-bedroom, two-bath on Sunset, which sold for $795,000, to a three-bedroom, four-bath on Palisades Drive, which sold for $1,795,000. The median sales price for condos at the end of the first quarter was $1,076,000, which is down 8% from 2019 first quarter median sales prices.

There are currently five pieces of raw land available, ranging from $998,000 for a 13,000-square-foot lot off of Oracle Place to $3.2 million for an under 4,000-square-foot lot on Revello. There is one lot in escrow and two have sold this year—most notably a 16,558-square-foot lot on Spoleto in The Riviera sold for $5.8 million.

There are currently 67 available leases in the Palisades (a 22% increase over the start of 2019), starting at $3,300 per month for a two-bedroom, one-bath on Michael Lane and asking as high as $60,000 per month for a five-bedroom, seven-bath house on Ravoli Drive.

There were 29 Palisades leases done in the first quarter of 2020 (a 45% decline from last year’s first quarter), ranging from a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit on Sunset, which leased for $3,333 per month, to a five-bedroom, seven-bath new home on Monte Grigio, which leased for $35,000 per month. The current median lease price is approximately $9,000 per month.

Michael Edlen, an agent with Coldwell Banker, has been keeping statistics of Pacific Palisades housing prices for the last 34 years.