Average sale price of Malibu condos in 2005 exceeds $1 million; median price up 19 percent
By Rick Wallace / Special to The Malibu Times
With 120 units selling for a cumulative $124 million, the average sale of a Malibu condominium topped $1 million for the first time last year. Despite a slowdown by the end of 2005, number of sales, volume, average and median all set local records.
Combined with the volume for sales of houses and mobile homes, new owners in Malibu spent nearly $1.2 billion for housing for the year. The median sale for a condo/townhouse was at $933,000. That is, half the sales were for more and half were for less.
The new Toscana complex near Webster Elementary School has accounted for 17 sales in the past two years, helping drive up averages. While some units sold new in 2004 for less than $1 million, nothing went for less than $1.4 million in 2005. The average price for a unit in the Vista Pacifica complex on Lunita, just west of Trancas, was also nearly $1.4 million. The Lunita complex is the second newest in town, as the trend away from smaller, more affordable housing in Malibu intensifies.
Furthermore, with practically no condo housing under construction or planned for the near future, even with homeowners’ dues at $400 to $700 per month for the majority of Malibu, condo ownership has been a savvy investment.
The accompanying chart summarizes all the sales of condominiums, whether listed or not, from information in the local multiple listing service and a review of public records for every unit in Malibu. Every neighborhood, without question, increased in value in 2005 (on the rail of the year 2004 when the condo sale average appreciated 38 percent and the median rose 37 percent).
Last year’s tallies: The average price up 14 percent; the median increased by 19 percent.
The lowest-priced complexes in Malibu, the Malibu Canyon Village on Civic Center Way (currently under renovation), and the Malibu Gardens near Kanan/PCH have both reached $600,000 as a typical price for a unit. For buyers entering the market at this time, a severe lack of inventory remains the story. At this writing, only six condos total along the coast are actively listed below $800,000.
The great scarcity of units that exists, let alone for sale, caused a doubling of values the past three years. Note the huge increases: Zumirez View Terrace (from an average of $373,000 in 2002 to $633,000 last year), the Gardens ($297,000 to $593,000), Tapia ($403,000 to $887,000), Tivoli Cove ($394,000 to $791,000), Malibu Canyon Village ($277,000 to $548,000), Malibu Bay Club ($423,000 to $820,000). All neighborhoods are still well under $1 million, but not long ago were at half the price.
The final two months of the year saw only 9 percent of the total sales, indicating the documented slowdown in realty sales was all-encompassing. For the first three months of 2006, the sales total will be less than 20; it is a marketplace of few listings and thinning demand.
Two units sold for more than $3 million last year-a two-bedroom townhouse on the sand at Carbon Beach and a huge, new 4000-square-foot-plus unit at Toscana with ocean views.
Rick Wallace of the Coldwell Banker Company has been a Realtor in Malibu for 18 years. He can be reached at his Web site, www.RICKMALIBUrealestate.com