Is High End Housing Market in Laguna Beach a Place for Bargains
In a recent report by ZipRealty Home Hunter Report, it was noted that the high-end housing markets are home to the biggest bargains so far for 2010.
Laguna Beach Real Estate is definitely a high-end housing market, so it is interesting to see how our California Real Estate numbers compare to the rest of the nation.
In their report, Zip highlighted one notable California Zip Code, 90210. In the first quarter of this year, homes in this area sold, on average, for 15% below asking price which works out to an average dollar reduction to the asking price of $703,964.
For Laguna Beach Homes, there have been 84 closed sales thru 4-29-10. A total of 54% of the homes sold in this time period have sold between 85% – 100% of asking price. Of the remaining closed sales, the final sales price was 48% – 84% of the asking price.
The average reduction in price was $1,137,930. That’s a pretty big number; however, the price ranges for these homes was pretty vast, ranging from $671,000 on the low end to $7,995,000 on the high end. One home started at around $14million and went “out the door” at over $6million reduction in price for a final sales price of $7,700,000. Still another sold for less than half price with a $4,400,000 reduction in the original sales price.
In the quest to find that “sweet spot” in the sales price, the average time on the market for homes with a final sales price over $2 million was 349 days; for those homes that sold for less than $2 million, the average days on market was 242 days. In calculating the combined days on the market (CDOM in realtor-speak), our team used numbers from when the homeowner first decided to list the property. In that total market time, they may have cancelled the listing with one broker and moved it to another real estate agent that priced the home more in line with the current market.
For Laguna Beach Homes, only 20% of the homes that sold were considered “distressed sales”, meaning that they were REO or bank owned homes, or they went through the short sale process.
As far as financing for these home purchases, we saw a lot of non-conventional financing. In other words, in many cases traditional lenders were not a part of the transaction.
Overall, 41% of the homes closed with all-cash offers, private or “other” financing. As the price tag of the home increased, so did the use of non-conventional financing. For homes priced at $3 million and greater, 61% of the transactions were closed without the bank. For those homes that sold over $5 million, this percentage jumps to 75% of non-bank financing.
So, does this mean that we are nearing a market recovery, as the Zip report suggested…or is there still room for bargains in Laguna Beach Real Estate? Let us know what you think!
