SALES OF $1M-PLUS HOMES JUMP IN ’13

By Jonathan Horn12:01 A.M.JAN. 31, 2014

San Diego County homebuyers last year purchased the most $1 million-plus properties since 2007.

In 2013, 3,519 properties worth $1 million or more sold in the county, a 48.7 percent jump from 2012, real estate tracker DataQuick reported Thursday. It was the highest number of seven-figure homes sold since 3,888 changed hands in 2007. In the summer, San Diego median home values saw 24 percent year-over-year appreciation. That and higher demand pushed many recovering home values back into the $1 million range, DataQuick reports.

The county’s biggest sale last year was a Del Mar home at 1936 Ocean Front, which went for $18.75 million, public records show.

La Jolla’s 92037 ZIP code recorded the county’s most $1 million-plus sales in 2013 with 398, ranking it third in the state.

“La Jolla naturally keeps its appreciation stronger than North County,” said Michelle Silverman, a La Jolla-based Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. “When you live in La Jolla, you get a view of the water. That’s not going to go away. They are not going to be building new homes in La Jolla.”

La Jolla’s biggest sale last year was an estate at 9736 La Jolla Farms Rd. that went for $18.5 million. That property was originally listed in 2012 for $27.3 million.

Silverman said nine out of the top 10 sold in La Jolla last year were all-cash buys. Those types of deals fueled the market’s jump, she said.

The county’s record number of $1 million-plus homes sold in a year came in 2005 with 5,671 transactions.

Statewide, the number of $1 million-plus home sales hit its highest level in six years with 39,175. The biggest sale came in Malibu, with an estate that sold for $74.5 million in January 2013. The 1993 home has 15,355 square feet, eight bedrooms and 14 bathrooms. The largest property sold had 25,447 square feet and was purchased for $2.25 million in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs.

DataQuick president John Walsh said in a statement that the luxury market reacts to unique factors.

“Things like job growth, mortgage interest rates and migration patterns do not play the same role as IPOs, stock market performance or how well one type of investment does compared to another, and where one wants to park one’s excess money,” Walsh said.

Del Mar was the only other county ZIP code to rank in the top 25, with 310 sales above $1 million. Manhattan Beach had the most last year, with 439 sales above $1 million.

In California, there are 8.8 million homes and condos, 270,590 of which are assessed at more than $1 million, DataQuick reports. It said last year there were 6,440 sales where the price was unavailable, but it could be determined that the deal exceeded more than $1 million because of the size of the mortgage.
Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

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