As the past two agonizing years have become history, the local real estate industry is happy to move on, hopeful 2011 will bring more business. With the inventory of homes for sale the highest it has been in 10 years, and the number of sales registering meekly in the three- to four-per-week range, heavy pressure is on prices to fall even further. But that does not mean the number of sales will yet increase and overall volume will rise during this year. That is the hope and expectation, anyway.
Certainly, large segments of the population as a whole itch to make a move. So few have in recent years. Many homeowners are anchored with diminished or no equity. That means weaker buying power, while the lending industry suffocates from government regulations and ever-stricter investor standards. Nevertheless, some deals find their way through the maze. Here is a sampling of home sales in various neighborhoods of Malibu, all of which closed escrow in the past four months.
A small cottage on Pacific Coast Highway has sold for about $675,000. It is on the land side of the highway, east of Las Flores Canyon and said to be built originally in the 1920s. It was bank-owned and disclosed uncertain geological condition. The house has two bedrooms with unobstructed ocean views.
Nearby, just up Las Flores Canyon, a three-bedroom home sold for $830,000. The home had some recent updates and sits on one-quarter of an acre. It was also lender-owned.
A home near the intersection of PCH and Kanan was only on the market a few days before it sold. It has a peek of ocean view, with three bedrooms, on about one-half acre. Selling price: $925,000.
It’s not often that a sale records in the very remote hills of western Malibu, in Ventura County, but one such sale transpired last month. The property featured more than 12 acres of mostly pastoral lands and a 1993 one-story ranch house with views of the mountains. It sold for $1.4 million. Also included were equestrian facilities and a two-bedroom guest unit.
The latest sale in Malibu West is for $1,200,000. The deal closed in September and involved a four-bedroom, three-bath house that boasts soaring high beam ceilings and maple hardwood floors with about 2,100 square feet near the back of the canyon.
A home in Malibu Park has sold for $1,750,000 after two and a half years on the market. It has a sweeping ocean view, on about an acre and a half of horse property backing up to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. On the same street, a sale of $2.5 million closed in November for a gated estate with four bedrooms, six baths. Also with excellent ocean views, the property has a pool, guest house and is fully landscaped.
Another Malibu Park home sold for the same $2.5 million. Originally it was listed in 2007 for more than $4.6 million. The home is custom-built and fairly new, with 1996 construction. On about an acre, there are four bedrooms, five baths in the one story home, which also has an ocean view.
One of the largest sales in recent times off the beach has occurred on the prestigious Sweetwater Mesa Road in Serra Retreat, for $11.5 million. Nicknamed “The Wave Sculpture,” the architectural marvel sits on a hillside lot with incredible views down the coast to Santa Monica, all the way up to the Malibu Pier and lagoon. The home was built three years ago, a rebuild from the 1993 fire, on a prominent lot. The home has a theater, entertainment room, pool, spa, large gourmet kitchen, built-in barbecue, gym and guest house, along with a pool and expansive outside entertainment areas.
Another newer home, on Las Tunas Beach, has sold for just under $3.7 million. One of three homes constructed together in 2007, it has a very open floor plan with large kitchen and living room spaces on the main level, as well as full-length sliding glass doors that open almost the entire back of the house to the ocean deck. There are three bedrooms, three baths on three levels.
A Point Dume bluff estate has sold for $8.5 million and includes a private path to the beach below. The listing started at $11 million but was on the market for less than a year. On an acre of land, with a lagoon-style pool amidst tropical landscaping, the house is six bedrooms and has a media room, as well as a gourmet kitchen.
A home in upper Corral Canyon has traded for $730,000 in a short sale. It’s exterior features a saltwater pool, large stone terraces with a view of the mountain, and lush landscaping. The interior consists of a remodeled two bedroom, one-story house with red oak floors.
Just more than $1.8 million was all it took to buy a remodeled home on Las Flores Beach. Though one of Malibu’s original structures, it was redone in 2001, with two bedrooms, two baths and walls of glass overlooking the surf. The beach is often dry in that location and the home had large decks as well.
Just closing escrow is a home on Rambla Pacifico that sold for a little less than $3 million. The house has stunning ocean views up and down the coast and an infinity pool. There are six bedrooms in the house, and the property encompasses more than seven acres of hillsides.
Rick Wallace has been a Malibu Realtor for 23 years.