February and midway into March have been dry for luxury home sales in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.
You have to go back to January to find a sale.
In January, six houses sold in the $4 million and above range, according to Seattle-based brokerage Redfin, which has an office in Irvine.
The average price per square foot was $1,345.
The highest priced home sold in January was a new $11.5 million ecofriendly home at 990 Ocean Front in Laguna Beach.
It closed Jan. 4 at $3,067 per square foot.
The 3,750-square-foot oceanfront home originally was listed in December at $13.9 million. It closed in a matter of days.
The undisclosed buyer’s agent was Prudential California Realty.
Laguna Beach-based Tresor Properties, a builder of luxury ecofriendly homes, built and sold the home.
Laguna’s Mark Singer Architects designed it.
The home has Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C.
Tresor Properties is building an adjacent, 4,300-square-foot ecofriendly home at 992 Ocean Front. That home is slated to be finished this summer. Tresor Properties also has plans for a green makeover for Laguna Beach’s oldest home at 154 Pearl St.
Late 2010 Upswing
Sales of homes in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach priced $4 million and higher ended strong at the end of 2010, according to Redfin.
In December, 11 homes sold at an average price per square foot of $1,643. That was up from eight homes sold in December 2009 at an average price per square foot of $1,610.
In December 2008, seven homes sold at $682 per square foot.
November also was a good month. Ten homes sold that month at an average price per square foot of $1,639, compared to 10 homes in November 2009 at an average price per square foot of $1,332.
In November 2008, five homes sold at $655 per square foot.
For the past three years through March, the lowest average price per square foot was in April 2009, when seven homes sold for an average price per square of $552.
The highest average price per square foot was $2,046 in January 2009, when three homes sold.
Since 2008, the number of $4 million-plus homes sold has been on the rise.
In 2008, 86 homes priced $4 million and up were sold. In 2009, 95 sold. In 2010, there were 116 sold.
Emerald Bay
Of 56 listed homes priced $5 million and up in Laguna Beach, Emerald Bay has several new listings, according to Realtor.com.
They include:
• 22 Emerald Bay at $24 million, listed by Newport Beach-based Hom Real Estate Group Inc.
• 1609 Emerald Bay at $5.9 million, listed by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, which has offices in Newport Beach.
• 942 Emerald Bay at $5.5 million, listed by Coldwell Banker.
• 35 Emerald Bay at $5.2 million, listed by Coldwell Banker.
Along the east and west sides of Pacific Coast Highway, is an area where prices soared during the housing boom.
“Emerald Bay went up so high so fast, causing nose bleeds,” said Pablo Rener, who’s got a listing there for $10 million.
Rener is an agent with Newport Beach-based First Team Real Estate Corp.
He said he expects prices in Emerald Bay and other high-end neighborhoods to come down a bit more this year.
The luxury market, he said, is starting to see more “strategic defaults,” which happens when a borrower, despite having the means to pay, chooses not to and leaves it to the bank to foreclose or negotiate with a new buyer.
That has the effect of bringing down the price of comparable homes.
“We’re seeing a lot more of them,” Rener said. “Banks are not in the business of foreclosing on properties. So a lot of times, banks would rather do a short sale than a foreclosure because then they never take the property back.”
Corona del Mar
Of 18 properties listed at $5 million and up in Corona del Mar, two are new listings owned by the same person.
The owner has lived on the property since the early 1970s and wants to sell one parcel or the other. Not both.
“Most people want the whole parcel,” said Jake Klohs, agent for Hom Real Estate Group.
“She’s determined to try and sell part of it and keep part of it.”
She’s been there a long time and wants to stay, he said.
The first parcel, at 2908 Ocean Blvd., is a home on a square-shaped parcel for $11.9 million. The 2,188-square-foot home is one of the oldest homes in Corona del Mar, built in 1911.
The other plot is a flag-shaped parcel at 2914. It’s priced at $2.9 million.
In an effort to sell it, the owner has divvied up the land in a variety of ways.
Klohs, who has the listing, has had written offers on it but no deal yet.
“A local person is going to buy it, as they usually do,” he said.
