44% of L.A. listings are reduced in price

In August I linked to a neat Redfin feature that allows you to track the housing market in almost any neighborhood of L.A. I thought I'd update that post to show some trends in L.A. These stats are for the city of Los Angeles, but you can use the Redfin tool to track any Zip Code.

Date                              August 13    Oct. 2

--Listed for sale             16,859         16,127
(home and condos)
--Foreclosures for sale     1,698          2,032
--Median list price        $475,000       $459,000   
--Median sales price*    $400,000       $380,000
--Median days listed      85                 90
--% reduced in price      43.9%             44.7%
--Median total reduction  9.3%            10.0%

*Based on homes sold or taken off the market in the previous 90 days

Your thoughts? Comments? I'm happy to start tracking a couple of ZIP Codes on the blog -- tell me which ZIP you'd like to see, and why. I'm inclined to pick a ZIP in the $700,000 range, because there seems to be so much interest among readers in areas that are somewhat pricey, but below $1 million. Let me know your thoughts.

-- Peter Viles

Comments

[Laker]

Peter,
Can you track zips 91356. During 2006, the median was at $700,000-1M
Now i guess it dropped 30% or more....
Some of the zip area is prime valley area.
Also, 91364,91367 Woodland hills. Peaked at $800,000 for median and now stuff cannot sell for $400,000.

[gerald]

Can you do any zip from Santa Monica. There are a few people who like to post here that say that in the Westside "home prices never decline." Hm.. Where have I heard that line before?

[Aaron]

I vote for 91030, South Pasadena.

[Westside Renter]

How about some middle class westside zips like 90064 (Rancho/Cheviot), 90025 (West L.A.) and 90024 (Westwood).

Thanks!

[MyLessThanPrimeBeef]

Not only are they proud that the prices in the Westside never decline, but people there also say to Paulson, we don't need no bailout.

[Chris]

Kindly tally my vote for 90041 (Eagle Rock)

[Valley Observer]

What's the base for "% reduced in price"? Is that the % currently listed that dropped by $1 or more while on the market, or the % of those sold? And what's the "normal" % that reduce in price in LA during a period of non-bubble market?

I would imagine it's not all that uncommon even in normal times for sellers to think their home is more attractive than others do, and reduce the asking price when they find out otherwise. When I was buying my current home 23 yrs ago, I saw some with idiosyncratic features like a pigeon house and astroturf with curving brick path through it in the sunken living room, that I'm sure the sellers thought were really neat, but for me were things I'd want to pay to have removed.

[Valley Observer]

Too bad the data comes only by ZIP, because that might be a bit too large for the effect you're looking for. For example, 90402 in SM would have some $5 mil houses and $2 mil tear-downs that haven't dropped, and also some $1 mil that have. The overall decline would depend largely on the relative proportion of the two groups during the period represented by the data, and also whether each seller can afford to wait, which is likely determined by factors external to the RE market.

[ART]

Burbank 91501/91504 would be great!

[JB]

If 90024 is "middle class" then I better move out of L.A...
I vote for 90066--it peaked just over a million, but in 2004 was in the 4 and 500's. Right now it's smack in the 700-800k range.

[Mucker]

I vote for 91030 also.

[Chris Finley]

I vote for tracking homes in either the 90046 or 90068 area (Hollywood Hills). There's plenty of expensive homes in that area, but there's several homes in the 700k range as well.