Westside Los Angeles Real Estate Market Report

Westside Los Angeles Real Estate Market Report

It can be hard to understand the Los Angeles real estate market by watching national trends. And it can be deceiving to try to figure out what's happening in your neighborhood by looking at Los Angeles as a whole because each neighborhood can be its own universe. 

So for our market report that we'll update monthly, we've divided Los Angeles into three luxury real estate areas as follows:

  • North Beach area, including the Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, and Venice.

  • Westside, including Beverly Hills, Brentwood, West Hollywood, and Westwood.

  • South Bay, including Hermosa, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo.

Quick Take:

  • The median single-family home prices and average price per square foot diverged in July, but price per square foot gives a more accurate picture for the selected areas. Year to date, North Bay and the Westside are down 8% and 6%, respectively, while the South Bay increased 12%.

  • Although inventory has risen slightly across the selected market this year, active listings fell from June to July, continuing a 17-month trend of low inventory and fewer new listings.

  • Homes are selling more quickly, and sellers are receiving a greater percentage of asking price, both of which highlight the increasing negotiating power for sellers.

 

Price per square foot fell slightly from June to July

Home prices and inventory in luxury markets continue to buck seasonal trends, showing considerable variability month to month in terms of median price and average price per square foot. The unique homes, higher mortgage rates, and low inventory have all contributed to these volatile price trends. Year to date, median prices increased in North Bay and the Westside, but declined in terms of price per square foot. In the South Bay, however, price per square foot rose, but fell in terms of median price. In markets with high variability month to month, it can be hard to identify the signal from the noise. When we look over the past two years, prices have moved horizontally with high variability around the average. The low supply should create price support in the coming months.
 
 
Typically, demand begins to decline this time of year, so the consistently low supply may become less of an issue. However, less of an issue doesn’t mean a non-issue. Quality new listings will certainly be sold quickly, while less desirable homes will sit on the market. This isn’t unusual, but it’s more apparent due to current mortgage rates. Potential homebuyers aren’t nearly as willing to pay a premium for a fixer upper as they were in 2020 and 2021.
 

The Westside favors buyers

Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) quantifies the supply/demand relationship by measuring how many months it would take for all current homes listed on the market to sell at the current rate of sales. The long-term average MSI is around three months in California, which indicates a balanced market. An MSI lower than three indicates that there are more buyers than sellers on the market (meaning it’s a sellers’ market), while a higher MSI indicates there are more sellers than buyers (meaning it’s a buyers’ market). MSI fell significantly in the first quarter of 2023, indicating the market moved from a balanced market to a sellers’ market. Luxury markets tend to have higher MSIs because there are fewer market participants. MSI has shown consistency over the past three months, showing that the North Beach and Westside markets both favor buyers, while the South Bay favors sellers.
 
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