We've been watching for signs of good, or even "normal," market conditions for a while.
A month ago, for instance, we carefully welcomed more typical inventory levels.
It has been about 18 months since the May 2022 mortgage rate spike ended the pandemic party in real estate. At some point, conditions would have to bounce back.
As we "speak," there's to be news of the first Fed rate cut in four years.
And now, we see wind in the sails of the local market.
The number of pending sails sales in Manhattan Beach in the first half of September was 13, better than 2022 (12) and 2023 (8), and very typical for the same period from 2013-19 (ranging from 13-17).
And, as we've noted, higher-end sales keep coming in, including MB's third-ever public-market sale over $20M (story here), among other top-tier deals (see "MB's Higher End Is Moving"). The high end often leads a market rebound.
This first half of September saw several notable closings, while East Manhattan continued to be the workhorse on a volume basis, producing 7 of the city's 15 closings in a half month.
Of course we're gonna start out by featuring our own big, recent closing first.
Dave's and Edge Real Estate Agency's buyer clients got 808 John St. (5br/6ba, 6604 sqft.), a double-lot home in the Hill Section near town, with pool, sports court and vast open space. (It's a total of more than 20,000 sqft. of land.)
That listing began at $19.900M and was at $16.900M when we introduced the property to our buyer clients.
They saw the value proposition, and made the deal that we suggested, getting the property for $14.100M. It might be the deal of the year in the Hill Section – no point in being modest about it, since others keep saying that to us.
Model Behavior Note: Our clients were longtime followers of MB Confidential, who reached out to Dave when they decided to take a step into the market. You, too, dear reader, should feel free to follow their example, and do the same when you're ready to buy or sell. After all, we don't just publish a nifty website here – we keep the lights on with local home sales. Always glad to take a call.
Also in this period, 3216 The Strand (5br/8ba, 7454 sqft.), closed up at $21.000M.
Additionally in the Sand Section, a new construction TH at 2512 Alma (4br/4ba, 2576 sqft.) virtually flew off the shelves, getting most of its asking price ($5.399M) in closing at $5.325M, with just 4 weeks on market.
And a 2015 modern on a prime half lot at 3208 Ocean (3br/4ba, 2933 sqft.) nabbed a whopping $8.500M in an off-market sale.
In the Tree Section, we learned just how hot and heavy the bidding had gotten for a well-located cottage at 746 27th (4br/2ba, 1674 sqft.).
The sellers didn't have to accept only the $2.499M they were asking – instead, the market delivered nearly $250K more, with a closing at $2.747M.
Is land value really near $2.8M already? In some places, perhaps.
Back in the Hill Section, a quirky 1980s remodel on the lower part of 9th at 927 9th (4br/3ba, 3011 sqft.) did well, clearing $3.400M, a discount of $250K from start. But that only required 2 weeks on market.
Meanwhile, East Manhattan had 3 closings higher than $3M, bringing the total to 15 sales over $3M east of Sepulveda this year. (Yep, that was 20% of the total in a 2-week period.)
One was new construction in, can we say, what seemed like an unlikely location: 1760 11th (5br/5ba, 3400 sqft.) – it got $3.800M (-$299K).
A virtually new home by the middle school at 1610 21st (4br/4ba, 3476 sqft.) sold for $3.850M, which actually amounted to a loss for the sellers, who had paid $3.910M for the home in Dec. 2023, in a new construction presale.
The third big sale was at 1747 Gates (5br/6ba, 4614 sqft.), a 2017 build that needed 3 months and some price cuts to find its buyer. After a start at $4.800M, they eventually closed out for $4.350M (-$450K).
That listing made us say hmm?!? a few times, starting with its initial pitch for the smart-home system as an "A.I. Butler," which – at least from this seat – sounded slightly scarier than it did helpful. (Do you really want your home to track you to figure out how best to serve you? Maybe!?)
The description was dropped and rewritten a few different times, and the photos changed out. It made us wonder: Who knows what really sells a house? Is it a clever turn of phrase? A nice photo or two? A post on Instagram? It seemed like they kept rebooting this one. And hey, it (eventually) sold!
Closing out the East MB sales, there was a Village Plan 3 at 11 Lafayette Ct. ($1.719M), a 3br condo (1155 11th #15, $1.250M) and two land-value sales (1601 23rd, $1.675M and 1832 9th, $2.180M).
From the look of things, we'll have an interesting Fall season to track, going forward.
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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 9/15/24:
> 81 active listings as of 9/15/24 (+6 from 8/31/24)
> 58 SFRs (flat)
> 23 THs (+6)
See the Inventory list as of 9/15/24 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
> Tree Section: 10 actives (-1)
> Sand Section: 42 actives (+5)
> Hill Section: 7 actives (+1)
> East MB: 22 actives (+1)
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 9/15/24".
