West Hollywood saw a decline in home sales but an uptick in prices during the first half of 2020, with the decline attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PropertyShark, the real estate data provider, reports that 153 homes were sold in West Hollywood from January through June of this year, a decline of 15% from the 180 sold during the same period last year. However, the median home price went up from $800,000 to $875,000, an increase of 9%. With that increase, West Hollywood ranked No. 10 in PropertyShark’s list of the 10 cities with the greatest price increases in L.A. County and No. 15 on the list of highest actual median home prices.
Beverly Hills ranked No. 1 in the median price ranking. Its median real estate sales price was $3,274,500, a 15% increase from the first half of 2019. The number of units sold declined by 31% — from 144 in the first half of 2019 to 99 this year. (The median sales price is that number in the middle, with 50% of all sales priced higher and 50% priced lower.)
PropertyShark reports that 37% of all home sales in West Hollywood in the first half of this year were for prices of more than $1 million. In the first half of 2019, only 34% of sales were for prices above $1 million. They include three condominiums sold for $11 million in Sierra Towers, the luxury building at 9255 Doheny Rd. known for its celebrity occupants.
“In March, California became the first state in the nation to issue a lockdown and, as a result, home showings moved online,” says the PropertyShark report. “Then, despite January’s 10% increase in sales activity year-over-year (Y-o-Y) and just 2% decreases in both February and March, things took a turn for the worse after the lockdown. Specifically, transactions plummeted 35% in April before reaching their lowest point in May, which had 51% fewer sales than May 2019. Sales then picked up slightly in June with only 25% fewer transactions Y-o-Y.”
Overall, residential sales in L.A. County fell 21% in the first half of the year as compared to the same time period in 2019 and median home sale prices actually rose 4% — from $597,000 in 2019 to $620,000 in 2020. PropertyShark reports that the number of sales fell from nearly 35,000 homes in the first half of 2019 to approximately 27,000 so far this year.
Median prices declined in eight cities in L.A. County, including Burbank, Culver City, and Glendale, as well as the more affluent and expensive Malibu and Santa Monica. PropertyShark attributes that decline in part to a reduction in the number of housing units sold in the first half of 2020 as compared to the first half of 2019. In Burbank the decline was 24% to 274 units sold this year. In Culver City the number of housing units sold declined by 28% to a total of 143 in the first half of this year. Glendale sales declined 32% to 387 units. Malibu sales were down 10% to 87 units. And Santa Monica sales were down 16% to 236 units.
