Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Yes, troubled times have come to the Beverly Hills, CA elite - at least some of them. For example, Rihanna’s mansion, which she paid $6.9 million for in 2009 is down in value - to $4.5 million. Ouch! Now that’s a pain no matter what your pocketbook contains. Still, when you compare the “troubled times” that many residents of the “hills” are facing to those of the rest of us, it’s hard to work up a tear, am I right?
Image courtesy of trekandshoot @ Istockphoto.com
The median sales price for a Beverly Hills home in the last quarter was at $1,193,750, representing a decline of 0.5%, or $6,250 from last quarter, and a decrease of 20.4% from last year. Over the last 5 years, sales prices have depreciated at a rate of 6.4% - a trend which doesn’t seem to be disappearing.
Mansions - those owned by celebrities or otherwise, are slow in selling in the current market, however properties on the Westside are more affordable, thus they are moving more quickly than their pricier counterparts. Properties which are not moving, are either overpriced are very “unique”.
As of November 1st, foreclosures in Beverly Hills are non existent, which means sellers are not impacted by anything other than what the market will bear. Despite this positive sign, Beverly Hills home prices and their values have declined by 10.2% from the same time last year.
The City proper has a small population of only 34,000 individuals, however there is a lot of entertainment companies and the entertainment industry is pretty much synonymous with the city of Beverly Hills. The daytime population soars to approximately 200,000, providing major revenue for the city and the businesses who inhabit it. It will continue to remain a very popular place for tourism and an influx of “Hollywood Hopefuls”.
Visitors can take in world class restaurants, entertainment venues and shopping within walking distance of luxurious hotel suites, and residents have access to a choice of quality public schools for their children. Public transportation and public parking is fantastic as well.
Beverly Hills is close to beaches as well as downtown Los Angeles, the L.A. Airport, Hollywood, UCLA, Century City and the Getty Museum. Disneyland, Universal Studios and other attractions are also about an hour away.
The market in Beverly Hills, it seems to me, is all about perspective. When you look the market by itself, then yes there are some declines, but in my humble opinion, it’s about the market correcting itself. The markets are also vastly different between not only regions, but in some cases large differences can be seen even from neighborhood to neighborhood. Right now I don’t believe you could call Beverly Hills “down and out” - not by a long shot.
