Monday, February 8, 1999
Westwood housing prices decrease
REALTY: High-end market still strong, but lower end homes
decrease in value
By Christine Byrd
Daily Bruin Contributor
Westwood suffered a 12.9 percent drop in median housing prices
last year, while prices elsewhere in Southern California soared to
an all-decade high.
The report, issued by the Acxiom/DataQuick Corporation showed
the 90024 zip code, which is mainly Westwood, had the largest drop
in median home prices in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San
Bernardino and Ventura counties.
Median home prices in the Westwood area dropped from $355,000 in
1997 to $317,750 in 1998, according to the DataQuick report.
"It was more of a shift in market mix than a decline in value,"
said John Karevoll, an analyst for DataQuick.
The median price is the price at which an equal number of houses
sold for more and an equal number sold for less.
"This was a particular phenomena in Westwood," Karevoll said.
"In 1997, an incredible number of high-priced homes were sold. The
market expanded in 1998, and the median was tugged down."
Real estate agents who experienced a good market in Westwood
last year also looked for ways to explain the statistics.
"I don’t think you can look at the whole Westwood market as one
market because it’s broken down into so many price ranges," said
Richard Stearns, who works for Fred Sands Realty.
According to Stearns, overall housing prices may have gone down,
but it resulted from changes in the low end of the market – the
homes under $500,000.
"The high end is strong. The middle end is stable. The low end
is where there’s really a lessening of prices," Stearns said.
He added that the real estate to the east of UCLA is the
high-end area of Westwood.
"It is very hot. It’s one of the hottest neighborhoods in all of
Los Angeles," Stearns said. "The only market that’s gone down is
the lower end. If anything, that’s had a negative effect on the
numbers."
The statistics also can be misleading, according to Richard
Weisdorf of Coldwell Banker, which handles hundreds of properties
in Westwood.
"The explanations weren’t there as to why the median went down,"
Weisdorf said. "The sales we experienced in 1998 were more in the
moderate range, rather than the super high end."
"My experience with Westwood activity is that it is as active as
ever," he added.
Weisdorf said he was somewhat concerned that potential buyers
would be alarmed by the statistics published in the report, but he
has seen no evidence of it affecting buyers.
"As for the the buyers I’m working with today, it did not cause
them any concern," Weisdorf said.
DataQuick receives its information for analysis from the County
Recorder’s Office, where documents are recorded when a property is
sold, according to Karevoll.
According to DataQuick’s information, 509 homes were sold in
Westwood last year.
"Activity on the West Side in terms of number of listings may be
slowing but is still at an active pace," Weisdorf said.
Although median prices in Westwood declined, they are still well
above the median prices for Los Angeles County. DataQuick reported
the county’s median home price to be $184,000, a 7.6 percent
increase over the previous year.
"Westwood may well have been one of the areas that lead Los
Angeles out of the previous slump," said Daniel Hinerfeld, deputy
for policy and communications at city councilman Mike Feuer’s
office.
Weisdorf is also optimistic about the market for 1999 as
well.
"It looks like January of this year is better than January of
last year," he said.
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