John Skinner
In comparison the last three years, September sales activity was strong on the Westside and in Manhattan Beach. Though it trails the scorching 2005 sales numbers (it will be a very long time before we see those numbers again), these numbers are starting to show the market balancing out and finding a bit of a normal pattern. In terms of activity, Westwood/Century City saw a solid jump in sales in comparison to last month and Manhattan Beach and Santa Monica led the way with the total # of sales this month. In fact, Manhattan Beach almost doubled the amount of sales it had in September of 09.
High-end sellers are still having a difficult time coming to grips with the reality of the market. The % difference between the average list to sale price is between 10%-22% in most high-end markets while it is usually between 3-6% in mid-level markets. The struggle between buyer’s and seller’s on the high end will continue but some seller’s are starting to wise up with quite a few properties priced above 1.5 million going into escrow in a fairly quick manner. The smart seller is turning back the clock and pricing in the 2003-2004 range.
