For real estate purposes, we generally like the months of September and October, as they can provide a bit of a surge in sales. It's often the second-busiest time of year.
Let's take a look at some of the sales from the first half of November, most of them negotiated during that Fall period, and see how they did.
Best Sales vs. List Price
The first sale here, performing best against its asking, was off-market.
1805 Poinsettia (5br/4ba, 3599 sqft.) is new construction that pre-sold during construction.
They did better than asking price, closing at $5.425M vs. a list of $5.250M.
If you have noticed at all the absolute lack of new/newer homes in the Tree Section under $5.5M over the past year or so, then seeing this one get bid up a bit is no shock at all.
1141 2nd St. (3br/1ba, 877 sqft., 6252 sqft. lot) is a little cottage that's almost "hiding" off of a flat access road below the rising hill of 2nd St. near Sepulveda.
Asking $1.649M, this one sold quickly for more, $1.675M.
1350 23rd (5br/5ba, 4799 sqft.) is newer construction (2018) in East Manhattan that got exactly the list price: $4.995M.
The official details say this one is a 6-year-old house, but inside, it felt practically new, pristine, full of great interior design, polished up to the hilt – like a model home.
You know how when you go hiking they say Leave No Trace? The sellers here are the kinds of people who strictly observe "Leave No Trace" but also repair and shore up all the hiking paths along the way.
The buyer who ended up getting this beauty for $5M is counting their blessings after watching extremely similar brand-new construction at 1504 9th (5br/5ba, 4662 sqft.) go under contract recently with a list price of $5.875M. (1504 9th is listed by Tyler Kruse, Irongate Real Estate.)
2800 Ocean is a stalled new construction project on a prime, undersized lot (1200 sqft.). Moribund since 2021 and with permits and Coastal Commission approvals all expired, this one might call for redevelopment from scratch. TBD.
In a very confusing back-and-forth, the property was listed on-and-off from May this year through October. The sale of the property closed almost a month after the second listing was withdrawn.
The list price was always $3.200M, and that was the sale price.
436 28th (3br/3ba, 1718 sqft.) is a mid-century modern up on the plateau.
Asking $2.475M, it needed only 3 DOM officially to secure an offer, closing at the asking price.
Modest Reductions to Sell
2104 Highland Avenue B (2br/3ba, 1644 sqft.) is a 1970s townhouse in "original condition" per the listing.
Asking $1.899M out of the gates, the home closed at $1.825M with just 3 weeks of market time.
1450 MB Blvd., Unit C (2br/2ba, 930 sqft.) is a nicely redone condo.
Asking $1.090M, the sale came within $50K at $1.040M.
586 35th (5br/5ba, 3580 sqft.) is new construction in the Trees.
It's not clear how best to count the ask/close spread here. For a few months, before the home was really ready, it was offered at $4.495M.
Once it was really complete, they took the listing down temporarily, staged the property and repriced it at $4.295M.
That's the price where it closed. So it's either $200K below the start price (which is proper) or perhaps right at asking, if you want to count from the time the house was ready and being shown.
2609 Crest (2br/2ba, 1752 sqft, 1752 sqft. lot) is a 1930s duplex on a favorable, highly positioned half lot overlooking Bruce's Beach Park.
The sale closed off-market at $2.975M, but they also report the list price $200K higher at $3.175M.
Also curious: The MLS shows the original purchase contract date being in December 2023, meaning this one appears to have taken a long time to close.
2303 Vista (4br/4ba, 2500 sqft.) is a 2002-built, contemporary-style townhome.
Asking $3.285M, it closed almost $300K lighter at $3.000M.
We chose to categorize this as a "modest" reduction (-9%) instead of grouping it with the bigger cuts below.
Largest Reductions from Asking
3608 Laurel (5br/5ba, 3300 sqft.) is new construction that compiled 370 Days on Market across a few listings.
After starting at $4.899M, it has closed for $3.950M (-$949K from when first seen).
329 6th (3br/4ba, 3442) is a Spanish-style walkstreet house, first offered at $5.375M, closed for $4.607M.
It's possible that some commissions were paid separately, rather than being deducted from the sale price (the most common practice by far). So the actual "value" of the sale, stacked against comparables, may be considerably higher – based on how much the buyer paid, in total.
116 9th (vacant lot, 2711 sqft.) is the former triplex, now vacant lot, near downtown, which we've written about a couple of times here.
Asking $5.950M at first, this one closed out for $5.100M (-$850K).
See "This Law Applies Even If the House Is Dead" and "Triplex Discount on a Prime Lot?"
1216 18th (4br/5ba, 3399 sqft.) is ambitious, high-style, warm-modern new construction on a 5K sqft. lot.
The listing counted out nearly a full year (363 DOM), and after starting at $4.389M, closed at $3.899M (-$490K).
In all of East Manhattan history, only a single new construction home on a 5K lot has sold over $4M – this year's 2104 Lynngrove at $4.195M.
Meantime, across-the-street-neighbor 1720 Magnolia (5br/6ba, 3267 sqft.), also new construction, recently closed for $3.850M.
657 29th (5br/4ba, 3770 sqft.) is a 1991 build in a great location that had been polished up.
Asking $4.095M to begin, this one closed at $3.650M (-$445K).
3108 Poinsettia (4br/3ba, 2218 sqft.) is an expanded original home that sprawls out across 3 levels, including a primary suite upstairs, a couple of smallish bedrooms on the middle level and a 4th bedroom down. There's also some livable space above the garage that really wants to be fully converted.
This one listed for $3.400M and closed $400K lower at $3.000M.
That was only half the notable story. The home last traded in Oct. 2022 for more: $3.200M. (Gulp!)
1616 Voorhees (6br/6ba, 5650 sqft.) is a huge '02-built Mediterranean with mainstream upgrades and a pool.
They came out at $4.575M in August, and recently closed up at $4.200M (-$375K). That's an eye-poppingly low PPSF of just $743/PSF, a tier below most larger East Manhattan homes sold this year.
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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 11/15/24:
> 77 active listings as of 11/15/24 (+7 from 10/31/24)
> 61 SFRs (+5)
> 16 THs (+2)
See the Inventory list as of 11/15/24 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
> Tree Section: 12 actives (flat)
> Sand Section: 32 actives (+1)
> Hill Section: 8 actives (-1)
> East MB: 25 actives (+7)
We're also providing a report on closed sales by region of MB.
Sales data, including PPSF for all properties, are organized by sub-region of Manhattan Beach.
Here's a link to the spreadsheet: "MB Pending/Sold as of 11/15/24".
