off-market sales

Back a bit before Christmas, we tried to calm MBC readers who were thinking that the the ocean-view lot at 864 5th in the Hill Section might be selling for less than $2M. Such a deal?

In "No, That's Not a Lot Under $2M," we pointed out that the active listing price of $1.949M had already been exceeded in a first-round bidding war.

The price had settled around $2.6M, but that was pending an all-important "court confirmation" with a potential for overbids in court.

That court hearing happened Jan. 23, and overbidding happened there.

The closed sale has now posted: $2.900M. That's for a 5700 sq. ft. lot that gets some views from front and back (that photo's from the back deck of the current structure).

Next stop: New construction. And do you even want to…

Just 14 months ago, there was a bidding war for 109 Bayview.

The ocean-view townhome (3br/4ba, 2030 sq. ft.) in the South End of the Sand Section was built in the early 90s and still looked very much like that in 2013. And the floorplan's a bit choppy.

Still, it was easy to see why multiple bidders drove the price up $200K at the time: Ocean views that are simply jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring... heck, they're darn near a religious experience. (Over the top?)

Those views are partly thanks to favorable topography, and partly thanks to old height limits. You can't build this tall again, so there's a special kind of scarcity factor built into this building.

In November 2013, the sale closed at $2.600M. Then the new owner started thinking through a remodel.

…

It has been something of a crazy year for land sales, and we're going to end 2014 with a bang, it looks like.

We'll be focusing on a few of the most recent Sand Section land sales. There's plenty to help drop your jaw to the floor.

First up, today, is one that will ultimately seem like "not such a huge number." We'll turn to the others in later posts.

The new sale at 309 18th at $3.250M immediately raises the bar for properties in a distinct pocket east of Highland.

Only once has there ever been a full standard-size-lot property sold in the same area for more... just $15K more, and there was a brand new house on the site at the time.

Here we are looking at the narrow set of walkstreets between 16th and 20th east of Highland, a rarefied sub-sub-market.

We imagine that you're with us on this: There's no point in acting surprised anymore about high sale prices in Manhattan Beach.

This aggressive upcycle is what it is. New highs are being carved out all over the place. (We began to document them in "Record Sales of 2014 (So Far)," and took note of "rocketing" Tree Section land values last week.)

This week, a new peak has been set for an ocean-view townhome.

It's 304 27th (4br/4ba, 2700 sq. ft.) leading the charge with an off-market sale that has just posted at $3.540M.

That is the highest price to date for a non-Strand townhome in Manhattan Beach, by about $300K.

It's a big (town)home with world-beating, unobstructed views over Bruce's Beach park. It was sold furnished, adding to the value.

New…