Letter from Bel Air: A $19.9 million teardown
No, that's not the $19.9-million teardown pictured, it's a reader photo of a dream house. It's Friday, indulge me for just a second to link to Business Week's look at the high-end markets, entitled "Down and out in Beverly Hills?"
Highlights: The cheaper dollar is helping move high-end properties: "Hilton & Hyland broker Aaron Kirman says half of the eight homes he has in escrow were sold to foreign clients."
A $2-million price reduction -- Story tells of a 1988-built home in Holmby Hills that was originally listed for $12 million; now it's $9.99 million.
The $19.9-million teardown is on a Bel-Air lot measuring 55,000 square feet with magnificent city views.
Bottom line: The high-end market is softening but doing OK: "... even in Beverly Hills, settling for less has become a fact of life.... Like the rest of the country, higher-end properties are holding up better than lower-end ones in Los Angeles."
Your thoughts? Comments? Email story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Hat tip: Todd in WeHo via email.
Photo Credit: "Nr. Palm Dr," by Mel, submitted to Your Dream House on the LA Land section of Your Scene at LATimes.com. The LA Land section of Your Scene includes five categories: Your Dream House, Foreclosures, Under Construction, Tree of the Week and Weird LA Houses.
This reminds me of something, perhaps just barely related to the subject on hand here, I read before.
When archaeologistsfirst started digging in Palestine, they discovered that while the ancient sujbects there were Semitic, their rulers there were Thunder-God worshipping, chariot-riding foreign people from north, probably the Caucuses or the Pontic basin. That must have been like 2000 BC or so, around the time Goddess worshippers were getting wiped out.
Posted by: MyLessThanPrimeBeef | April 18, 2008 at 01:54 PM
Oh my Goddess!
Posted by: Jonathan | April 18, 2008 at 02:52 PM
Business Week absolutely SUCKS as far as publishing accurate and timely RE news and articles goes.
They were completely MIA for the past 2 years as this callapse unfolded. It's like the national, magazine version of the LA Times RE section.
Now they're trying to play catch up, but the years of promotional shill-stench just won't go away so easy.
"The cheaper dollar is helping..."
But, of course it is.
Posted by: JohnnyB | April 18, 2008 at 03:12 PM
Peter,
22 Million dollars is not high end in LA, this is super duper rich people!
How many in LA population can buy this? 1% ...probably 0.001% of the so cal population...
High end is where 5-10% of LA is buying that is probably houses in the $900,000-2,000,000 range today!
Posted by: Laker | April 18, 2008 at 06:25 PM
Interesting to just glance at this article and see the $$ about the teardown. Here in Montecito CA one of our local Billionaires bought a $20 Million plus home next door to his home and promptly knocked it down simply to add to the lawn space and view. Crazy but true.
Posted by: Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice | April 22, 2008 at 09:28 AM