Beach homes values soar in 2004.
By Rick Wallace/Special to The Malibu Times
Ever more exclusive, the average beach home in Malibu continues to rise in value, and now averages about $5.7 million per home sale. Despite fewer sales during the year, 2004 saw significant increases in the beach real estate market values.
The median value is rising at an even faster rate, last year taking values up 21 percent on the sand. The median was $4,850,000. That is, half the beach sales were for more, half for less.
Sales detected for 2004 so far numbered 53. In recent years the results have been a bit higher; every year of the last six except 2001 seeing more transactions.
Part of the reason for both the lower sales and greater increases are the exceptionally low inventory. Beach owners are very reluctant to give up their special asset. There was almost no time during the past year that as many as 40 beach homes were listed for sale at any one time. About 1000 exist and that number won’t change much over time. There are scarcely any unbuilt lots on the beach.
The increase in the average sale price was about 11 percent higher than in 2003. Most years, that would be considered a worthwhile boost. More notably, going back 24 months, the increase is about 43 percent.
It is likely several sales on the beach will be revealed or discovered in coming months, changing the tallies slightly. Efforts are often made to shield sale prices from public consumption, though word of mouth and public records bring good estimations of the aggregate activity. Beach sales include bluff properties that have direct access to the sand.
Seven Malibu homes were known to have sold for $10 million or more, all on the beach. In general, however, there were no particularly blockbuster deals. The highest sale price was apparently $12 million. That is fairly modest by recent standards. Alternatively, “typical” beach houses were in greater demand and only eight homes of the 53 sold for less than $3 million. With the bulk of sales in the $4 – 8 million range, the median sale was $4,850,000.
The Broad Beach/Sea Level area was busy with nine sales. The three-mile solid beach stretch of the Malibu Colony and Malibu Road had 11 sales.
Three beach homes that sold in 2004 are already up for resale. Asking prices are 15 percent, 58 percent and 131 percent higher than last year’s sale prices.
Rick Wallace of the Coldwell Banker company has been a Realtor in Malibu for 17 years. He can be reached at his website, www.RICKMALIBUrealestate.com.