The Market is Changing Again

Inventory is Down, Escrows Are Up

By MICHAEL EDLEN | Special to the Palisadian-Post

As of June 30, 90 single-family Palisades residences were listed in the Multiple Listing Service. The current level of inventory is 20% lower than last year’s June 30 available inventory.

A total of 82 homes were sold in the Palisades in the first half of 2020, which is actually a 2% increase from 2019. Median sale prices ($3,312,500) were up 11% from 2019’s first half.

The median list price is currently $4,387,500. Although there are currently 36 escrows open in the Palisades, which is flat from the end of the second quarter last year, there was a 50% increase in the number of new escrows opened in June.

The lowest-priced residence available is a three-bedroom, two-bath home on Sunset Boulevard, which is being offered at $1.67 million. The highest-priced available property is a seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom on Corona Del Mar, which is listed at $20 million.

The most affordable areas so far in 2020 are the Lower Marquez/Bel-Air Bay Club and Sunset Mesa/Pacific View Estates neighborhoods. The Upper Bienveneda/Marquez and Riviera areas currently have the largest number of homes for sale in the Palisades.

The lowest sale price for the second quarter of 2020 was on Mount Holyoke ($1.56 million). The highest sale ($24 million) so far this year was on Chautauqua.

There are 20 condominiums/townhouses on the market, which is 20% fewer than what was available at the end of the first half in 2019. They range from a one-bedroom, one-bath on Sunset being offered at $649,000 to a three-bedroom, four-bath that is still under construction on Tramonto for $5.3 million.

Twenty-seven condominiums were sold in the Palisades since the start of the year, ranging from a one-bedroom, one-bath on Sunset, which sold for $680,000, to a three-bedroom, three-bath on Palisades Drive, which sold for $1,919,000. The median sales price for condos at the end of the first half was $1,175,000, which is up 9% over 2019 first half median sales prices.

There are currently seven pieces of raw land available, ranging from $1,295,000 for an under 4,000-square-foot lot on Castellammare to $11.95 million for a 42,000-square-foot lot on Sunset Boulevard. There is one lot in escrow and three have sold this year.

There are currently 81 available leases in the Palisades (a 19% increase over the first half of 2019), starting at $2,950 per month for a two-bedroom, one-bath on Michael Lane and asking as high as $350,000 per month for a six-bedroom, 18-bath house on San Onofre.

There were 79 Palisades leases done in the first half of 2020 (a 36% decline from last year’s first half), ranging from a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit on Sunset, which leased for $3,200 per month, to an eight-bedroom, 13-bath new home on Rivas Canyon Road, which leased for $60,000 per month. The current median lease price is approximately $8,000 per month—an 8% dip.

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