Gated Communities Los Angeles
According to a recent article in the LA Times, some areas of Los Angeles are experiencing housing prices that surpass levels seen even at the height of the housing bubble.
Foreign investors and new-minted tech millionaires are pushing prices up in a dozen or so Southern California zip codes – specifically around the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside. This is in stark contrast to what is going on in other parts of Los Angeles, where prices are nowhere near their bubble peaks.
According to the article:
In the San Gabriel Valley, an influx of Chinese buyers has shifted the market into overdrive, real estate agents say. Many Chinese see U.S. real estate as a solid investment, cheaper and more stable than in China. Others buy homes with their children in mind, seeking cleaner air and solid schools.
An epicenter for previous waves of Asian immigration, the valley is a natural landing place.
In Arcadia’s 91007 ZIP Code, the median sale price for a previously owned house reached $1.33 million last quarter — 30.5% higher than its peak in 2007. In the city’s 91006 ZIP Code, prices are 23.7% higher. Other areas with nominal prices exceeding their peaks, though less dramatically, are Walnut, Temple City, San Marino and a ZIP Code that covers parts of San Gabriel and East San Gabriel.
On the Westside, the arrival of hip cafes and other amenities catering to tech industry workers has, in turn, attracted others to these areas.
Another is ritzy Los Feliz, where homes near Griffith Observatory command top dollar. Four other areas are on Los Angeles’ Westside, in Venice, Palms, Mar Vista and Culver City.
The areas that are out performing the 2008 peak prices are the affordable areas located around the rim of neighborhoods that have become too expensive for most buyers such as Beverly Hills, Westwood, Brentwood, Hollywood Hills, Hancock Park, Bel-Air, Sunset Strip and West Hollywood
Well, there will definitely continue to be spillover into neighboring zip codes as potential buyers are priced out of those respective markets and decide to look elsewhere, but what is more important is what this increase in prices says about the state of the real estate market in Los Angeles – not just these exclusive neighborhoods.
As Stuart Gabriel of UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate says, “”There are important, fundamental reasons that prices moved up.”
The increase in the price of real estate in these exclusive neighborhoods and the rest of Los Angeles isn’t a bubble built on smoke and mirrors; it’s a sign of strong demand – foreign and domestic – for real estate in Los Angeles. That bodes well for the entire city.
To read the complete article in the LA Times, please click here.
Susan Andrews | Estates Director
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Susan Andrews is your ultimate real estate source for Los Angeles, California and surrounding communities.
Photo courtesy of the LA Times.