Welcome back to the Real Estate newsletter, which this week is largely devoted to resuming Andrew Khouri and I’s deep immersion in the once inaccessible million dollar home.
For decades, the popular perception of Southern California’s million dollar homes has been Beverly Hills mansions or beachfront bungalows. These days you might not even get two bathrooms with seven digits.
In a historic market that skyrocketed during the pandemic, homes worth $ 1 million or more became the norm in once affordable communities, and rising incomes and historically low borrowing costs increased the number of people joining Can afford such a price in height. Today, LA’s signature $ 1 million home is a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment. Not bad, but not exactly luxurious.
In the city of LA, 15 neighborhoods joined the multi-million dollar club during the pandemic, and most of them were grouped into three areas: northeast Los Angeles, south Los Angeles, and the San Fernando Valley. Check whether your device has been added to the list.
Would you like to buy in this price range? Depending on where you look, for $ 1 million, you can buy a 2,500-square-foot three-bedroom home or a cozy two-bedroom home that is just under 800 square feet. The Times looked at what six neighborhoods of LA sell for a million dollars. The stories are for subscribers only, but if you throw us a dollar – The Times charges $ 1 for six months of digital access to the Los Angeles Times website – I promise you will find a million things to read.
August real estate data fell this week, and the numbers show a market cooling off from a hot, hot summer. The average sales price for the six counties of Southern California was $ 680,000, 0.1% less than in July.
Big news came from Sacramento when Governor Gavin Newsom, who had just won the recall election, signed two zoning plans aimed at increasing housing density and making it easier to build multiple units on single-family land.
On the celebrity side, one of the biggest house deals in Brentwood history went down when music mogul Scooter Braun spent $ 65 million on a striking minimalist farmhouse. He bought it from venture capitalist Larry Paul, whose family is the second largest owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While you catch up on the latest, visit and like our Facebook page, where you can find property stories and updates all week.
The modern million dollar house
Devin Sunseri, fiancee Katie Scardino and their dog Tallulah in their home in Leimert Park.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The pandemic economy has fueled the competitive housing market in Southern California so much that a defining marker of wealth – the million dollar home – has become the norm in more and more places.
Homes valued at $ 1 million or more now dominate the communities from Altadena at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains to West Adams in southern LA, out of reach of low- and middle-income Californians.
At the same time, the proliferation of million dollar homes shows that the price is not excessive for a growing proportion of Californians. It still takes financial strength to buy a home like this, but a rising stock market, rising incomes, and historically low borrowing costs have made the $ 1 million home more common than ever.
LA’s new million dollar neighborhood
A fisherman casts his line near the idle pedal boats on Echo Park Lake.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
There have never been so many $ 1 million homes.
No longer confined to Santa Monica, the Hollywood Hills, or the beach towns of Orange County, the $ 1 million home is popping up across Southern California, spurred on by demand for larger space during the pandemic and the resulting rise in home prices .
In the city of Los Angeles, the neighborhoods that topped the $ 1 million mark for the first time are mainly in three areas: northeast Los Angeles, south Los Angeles, and the San Fernando Valley. Here are LA’s 15 new million dollar neighborhoods.
What is $ 1 million buying?
7028 Firmament Ave., Van Nuys, 91406
(Keller Williams Real Estate)
As the pandemic progressed, 15 LA neighborhoods joined the Million Dollar Club, which valued the typical home at $ 1 million or more, according to a formula used by Zillow. Depending on where you’re looking, that sum can be used to buy a four-bedroom space of 3,000 square feet or a two-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow.
Check out what’s currently being bought for $ 1 million in six neighborhoods of LA.
SoCal’s insane market is cooling off in August
A house finds a buyer in Pasadena. The city’s northern neighbor, Altadena, is a new member of the $ 1 million home club.
(David McNew / Getty Images)
Southern California home prices were broadly flat in August compared to the previous month as the market cools slightly from its hot pace earlier this year, writes Andrew Khouri.
The average sales price for the six-county region – the point at which half the homes sold for more and half for less – was $ 680,000 last month, according to data released Monday by real estate firm DQNews. That is 0.1% less than in July.
Due to the strong growth last year, the median was 13.9% above the level in August 2020. Although substantial, this year-on-year increase was the smallest price increase since February.
Newsom signs substantial housing bills
The parking lot at the bottom of this aerial photo is the location of a planned affordable housing project in Solana Beach.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Governor Gavin Newsom signed two laws on Thursday to facilitate the construction of more housing in California, write Jon Healey and Matthew Ballinger.
The first, Senate Draft 9, allows the construction of more than one residential unit on land that was previously only intended for one unit. The second, SB 10, enables denser development near public transport corridors such as bus and train lines.
Here is an explanation of the concepts and the new laws.
Music mogul buys the most expensive house of the year
Scooter Braun bought a spacious modern villa for $ 65 million.
(Benny Chan)
In Southern California’s most expensive sale to date this year, music mogul Scooter Braun spent $ 65 million on a huge modern farmhouse in Brentwood. Records show it is the most expensive store in the neighborhood’s history.
Braun, a record manager who recently made headlines over his public feud with Taylor Swift, bought the brand new home from Larry Paul, a venture capitalist whose family is the second largest owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Paul paid $ 11 million for the property in 2015 and had the existing home razed to the ground and commissioned modern architect Noah Walker to create a 19,000-square-foot showroom on the nearly four-acre property. Walker’s end product is a striking mix of wood and stone that vaguely resembles a farmhouse with boxes stacked on top of each other.
What we read
If you think the market is tough in Southern California, check out this 10-foot-wide Boston home that just sold for $ 1.25 million. The house, called “The Skinny House”, was allegedly built by a soldier after he returned from the Civil War, NPR reports.
The tiny house wave hasn’t slowed during the pandemic, and USA Today reports that Google searches for “tiny house rentals” have increased 113% over the past five years. They checked out a few beautiful units across the country.
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