A bayfront home at 1108 W. Bay Ave. in Newport Beach has sold for $4.1 million.
The home was listed in April for $4.2 million and was on the market for less than 40 days. Pricing the home at its market value helped it sell quickly, said Jim Heydorff, who represented the seller.
Heydorff is an independent broker based on the Newport Beach peninsula, where he has had a home since 1973.
“I had the owners price the property in the range,” Heydorff said. “I told them, ‘Let’s be realistic about it, let’s not be a dreamer, let’s price it where it’s going to sell.’ ”
The seller bought the home for his wife in 2010, hoping to persuade her to move to the bay from their oceanfront home. She didn’t want to move, and the property was put on the market.
“She was happy staying on the oceanfront,” Heydorff said.
The 2,884-square-foot, two-story home had about 60 viewings and two comparable offers. The sellers bought the home for $3.6 million in 2010.
The home has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It features a dock that can fit a 50-foot boat.
The buyers were empty nesters from Southern California who were represented by Steven Roose, an agent with Coldwell Banker Previews International in Newport Beach.
Pricey Listing
Another eight-figure listing recently came on the market: 3030 Breakers Drive in Corona del Mar is listed for $11.5 million by Eliisa Stowell, an agent for Newport Beach-based Surterre Properties Inc.
It’s the first time the oceanview home on Big Corona Beach has been for sale.
The 8,000-square-foot home is situated near the Wedge, a famous surf break. The longtime owner, now in his 90s, turned a one-time beach cottage into a four-level family compound in 2005.
The home has seven bedrooms, nine full baths, four kitchens and spacious outdoor decks. The multifamily home has private entries on each level.
The first level is a studio, and the second and third levels have bedrooms and kitchens.
About 65 agents recently previewed the home.
“It’s a very unique property to sell,” Stowell said. “It’s very hard to find something that big on the beach.”
Market Optimism
Things are looking up in the Orange County housing market, and the overall improving market bodes well for the luxury home market, according to Ladera Ranch-based Reports On Housing.
The report by housing-market analyst Steven Thomas cited low inventory and high demand at levels not seen since 2005. That represents quite a turnaround from recessionary times, when there was too much supply and scant demand.
There are 5,883 homes on the market at present, or 47% fewer homes compared to last year, according to the report.
Supply is shrinking in every price range: Below $500,000, inventory is down 58%; $500,000 to $1 million, inventory is down 45%; above $1 million, it’s down 21%.
“Throw in the increasing rents, historically rock-bottom, unbelievable interest rates and affordability at a high not seen in years, and there is even more pressure on home values,” Thomas wrote.
Homes priced at or near market value are seeing multiple offers, the analyst said.
“A home in this range is placed on the market and within moments cars filled with buyers are touring the home,” he added.
But sellers shouldn’t get ahead of themselves on pricing, Thomas said.
“My real concern is a return of unrealistic sellers pricing their homes at random overpriced levels at what they would like to get versus what the market will really bear,” he wrote.
OC homes are spending about six weeks on the market, according to the report.
It’s taking four weeks to sell homes priced below $500,000.
Short sales are taking 22 days, and foreclosures are taking 19 days.
Homes in coastal Orange County are taking a bit longer to sell.
Homes in Laguna Beach are spending about 5.6 months on the market; Seal Beach, 4.7 months; Newport Coast, 4.3 months; and in Newport Beach, 3.4 months.
San Clemente homes are selling fastest out of all the coastal areas, spending 1.6 months on the market.
The report also breaks out time on the market according to price ranges.
Homes priced $4 million and up are spending about 26 months on the market. Homes priced from $2 million to $4 million are spending 9.4 months on the market, and $1.5 million to $2 million about 4.3 months.
