The Malibu Real Estate Report / Rick Wallace
The declaration could have been made early in the morning of January 1: 2010 will be a good year for Malibu real estate. Of course, the word “good” might need some definition. In the world of relativism and subjectivity, a good year may be any year that is not 2009, which was the worst ever in Malibu.
After last year, which practically made for the seventh consecutive year of ever-decreasing unit sales of single-family homes in the 90265 ZIP code, the number of transactions was destined to be better this year. And voila-they are! Sales through five months are projecting to be around 150 units, compared to about 110 last year. Whether that is “good” compared to the 300-plus sales in 2003 or the 260 sales in 2005, or even the 190 sales in 2008, may be another debate (perhaps it is better to say this looks like a “better” year than last).
Nevertheless, following is a sampling of many sales this year and how they compared to recent years when the same house sold before.
A large Mediterranean home sold early in the year for just more than $3.6 million. It is located on Ramirez Mesa, in the gated development known as Paradise View Estates behind the Malibu Villas. The home has five bedrooms, five and a half baths, with an ocean view and a pool. The same house sold in 2006 for just more than $4.5 million.
A smaller home in the Kanan/PCH area has sold for about $900,000. It was a foreclosure. The previous owner had paid more than $1.6 million in 2005. The house is on a flag lot, with two bedrooms on an acre of land. It has ocean and ravine views.
A celebrity-owned home on Point Dume that last traded for just more than $2 million in 2007 sold again in February. The home is in a cul-de-sac with about half an acre of flat land. The house is a mid-century, one-story ranch home that was recently remodeled. The sale price this time was $1,650,000.
At the east end of Malibu, a short sale transaction in Big Rock resulted in a price of about $1,050,000, about one-third off from the home’s 2006 price. It is a one-story, ranch-style house on a tract lot.
A six-bedroom home in the Malibu Knolls, overlooking the construction at Legacy Park and Civic Center area, has sold for the first time since 2004. The home sits on more than a half acre with more than 5,000 square feet of living area, including a gym. With ocean views, the property has a pool, spa, gazebo and fountain. When it sold in 2004, the price was $3.2 million. This year: $2,650,000.
A house in Las Flores Canyon sold for more than its 2004 price. The property, on a knoll with ocean views, features a Spanish hacienda-style home of one-story with four bedrooms within 3,600 square feet, according to public information. This year’s sale was at $1,850,000, an increase of $450,000 from last time.
Not far away in the Rambla Pacifico area, another home sold at a better price than 2004. The spectacular single-story architectural was on the market only briefly before fetching $3.2 million, a half million more than six years earlier. The estate, built in 2000, has ocean views and more than two acres. Within the home are a huge master suite, four other bedrooms, four fireplaces total and a chef’s kitchen. There is also an infinity pool on the gated property.
Only about a dozen homes have sold on the beach so far this year, but one of them brought a little more money than in 2005. This year’s sale price: $6,788,000. The home is on Las Flores Beach, just east of Duke’s Malibu restaurant. The house is contemporary in style, impeccably detailed, with four bedrooms and open outdoor patios.
A Broad Beach home once owned by a top actor sold for just less than $12 million. It sits on a wide 80 feet of beach frontage. When the same home dealt in 2001, the price was $8.9 million. Boasting extensive recent upgrades, the home has five bedrooms, including a large second story, ocean view master suite.
Three beach homes on Malibu Road and three in the Malibu Colony have also sold, but with no recent comparative activity. However, not far away in Malibu Country Estates adjacent to Pepperdine, a home has sold for much better than its last price in 2003. The home has an ocean view, a pool and is larger than most in the neighborhood, at 3,800 square feet. Its recent sale was quick, at $2,250,000, well above the 2003 result of $1,550,000 (let alone its 2002 and 1998 sales, lower yet).
A home on five acres near the top of the mountain at Saddle Peak has sold for $1,240,000. Its last recorded deal in 2006 was at $1,680,000. It was bank owned.
Rick Wallace has been a local Realtor for 22 years.