March Was Brighter - Manhattan Beach Market Update for 3/31/23
As Spring dawns, March of any given year should be when demand for real estate reasserts itself.
This is the beginning of the busiest time of year for buyers and sellers of Manhattan Beach real estate.
After months of lagging, March 2023 did not disappoint, as the following chart shows.
For this…
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Unlock PostAs Spring dawns, March of any given year should be when demand for real estate reasserts itself.
This is the beginning of the busiest time of year for buyers and sellers of Manhattan Beach real estate.
After months of lagging, March 2023 did not disappoint, as the following chart shows.
For this chart, we took a look at all the homes going into escrow within the calendar month, and the total dollar value of all those homes if purchased at their full list prices. (Data comes from our custom-crafted MB Market Updates, published here continuously for 16 years.)
While this is admittedly imprecise as to dollar amounts, it's useful data when using the same method to compare year to year. How much is typically spent (or pledged) on real estate in March?
What we see here is that March 2023, at $96.1M, was the lowest of the past 6 years, but at the same time, it's also encouraging to see that it's not lower by very much.
March 2019 and 2021 stand out as a tier above ($127.5M and $116.3M, respectively), but really, 2023 looks very similar to the other 3 prior years, with the month's new escrows valued at $100.7M-$104.5M.
Right now, after almost 9 months of humdrum and angst, a little bright spot like "March was pretty normal" is more than welcome.
But.
Oh man, we just knew you'd have a "but."
No, don't worry, it's still ok.
We saw this much money put forward for Manhattan Beach real estate even with a pretty low total number of new contracts made. Here's that data.
This is a different measure of demand that shows only 25 homes went under contract this year in March.
It's lower than any total in the prior 10 years. That includes March 2020, which almost didn't even have a second half of the month due to the first covid shutdowns.
This is happening in a very-low-inventory environment, with just 57 active listings at month's end.
The 32 new deals last year, in March 2022, came amid even lower inventory (just 34 listings on market as of March 31, 2022), but it's fair to say there's one big difference between the years. Last year, the market was so blisteringly hot at this time, few listings hung around at all. This year, some listings hang around for 2-4 weeks, but still find their buyers.
To be more precise, the median number of days on market for a listing that goes into escrow last March was 9 DOM, and this year, 27 DOM.
Below is a list of all the homes to go into escrow in March, and then – below – some discussion of several of the homes that didn't already make it into our late-March post, "March Looks Busy - See the Latest Deals." You can click on any address to see more details.
TREE SECTION PENDING SALES
ADDRESS | BD/BA | SQFT | LOT | PRICE | $PSF | DOM | START $ | START |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3528 Walnut Avenue | 5/4 | 2,790 | 4,645 | $3,195,000 | $1,145 | 42 | $3,195,000 | 02/02/23 |
2100 Pine Avenue | 5/5 | 3,180 | 4,481 | $4,000,000 | $1,258 | 20 | $4,000,000 | 02/24/23 |
533 13th Street | 2/2 | 1,194 | 2,114 | $2,350,000 | $1,968 | 27 | $2,350,000 | 02/03/23 |
644 29th Street | 5/7 | 5,077 | 4,804 | $6,499,000 | $1,280 | 21 | $6,499,000 | 03/01/23 |
SAND SECTION PENDING SALES
ADDRESS | BD/BA | SQFT | LOT | PRICE | $PSF | DOM | START $ | START |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
340 6th Street | 5/5 | 3,842 | 2,694 | $7,450,000 | $1,939 | 56 | $7,450,000 | 01/19/23 |
409 30th St | 4/5 | 2,798 | 1,754 | $4,795,000 | $1,714 | 56 | $5,000,000 | 01/17/23 |
324 31st Street | 3/3 | 2,317 | 1,810 | $3,875,000 | $1,672 | 121 | $3,999,999 | 10/20/22 |
209 15th Street | 3/2 | 1,278 | 1,345 | $3,249,000 | $2,542 | 41 | $3,249,000 | 02/03/23 |
532 6th Street | 4/4 | 3,047 | 2,256 | $4,895,000 | $1,606 | 42 | $4,895,000 | 02/16/23 |
517 3rd Street | 5/5 | 3,564 | 2,705 | $4,495,000 | $1,261 | 10 | $4,495,000 | 03/22/23 |
3000 The Strand | 3/4 | 3,949 | 3,514 | $13,499,000 | $3,418 | 39 | $13,499,000 | 02/21/23 |
HILL SECTION PENDING SALES
ADDRESS | BD/BA | SQFT | LOT | PRICE | $PSF | DOM | START $ | START |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
235 N Dianthus Street | 5/5 | 5,152 | 6,501 | $5,499,000 | $1,067 | 408 | $8,000,000 | 02/17/22 |
EAST MB PENDING SALES
ADDRESS | BD/BA | SQFT | LOT | PRICE | $PSF | DOM | START $ | START |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
23 Village Circle | 4/4 | 3,184 | 5,834 | $3,299,000 | $1,036 | 108 | $3,400,000 | 11/28/22 |
1606 22nd Street | 3/2 | 1,800 | 4,984 | $1,999,000 | $1,111 | 18 | $1,999,000 | 02/26/23 |
24 Westport | 4/4 | 3,256 | 5,742 | $3,499,000 | $1,075 | 120 | $3,499,000 | 10/28/22 |
31 Malaga Place | 2/2 | 1,450 | 3,451 | $1,649,000 | $1,137 | 10 | $1,649,000 | 02/22/23 |
1534 Curtis Avenue | 5/7 | 4,689 | 7,472 | $5,795,000 | $1,236 | 12 | $5,795,000 | 03/04/23 |
1341 17th Street | 6/4 | 3,381 | 7,015 | $2,400,000 | $710 | 4 | $2,200,000 | 03/24/23 |
1350 Curtis Avenue | 3/1 | 1,051 | 6,304 | $1,650,000 | $1,570 | 10 | $1,650,000 | 03/14/23 |
1155 Chestnut Avenue | 2/1 | 889 | 4,903 | $1,685,000 | $1,895 | 46 | $1,799,000 | 02/14/23 |
1346 Gates Avenue | 3/1 | 1,099 | 5,150 | $1,525,000 | $1,388 | 5 | $1,595,000 | 03/08/23 |
1320 Voorhees Avenue | 3/2 | 1,459 | 9,158 | $2,500,000 | $1,714 | 16 | $2,500,000 | 03/16/23 |
1140 Manhattan Beach Boulevard D | 2/3 | 1,190 | 9,562 | $1,140,000 | $958 | 45 | $1,140,000 | 02/15/23 |
1633 2nd Street | 3/2 | 1,260 | 6,630 | $1,899,000 | $1,507 | 31 | $1,899,000 | 03/01/23 |
1545 5th Street | 4/3 | 3,378 | 7,504 | $3,279,000 | $971 | 29 | $3,279,000 | 03/03/23 |
As you can see in the list, the new deals spanned a range of price points.
There were quite a few "lower" priced deals in East Manhattan, reflecting how the $2M-and-under market is getting hot all over the South Bay.
Some Tree Section Pendings
3528 Walnut (5br/4ba, 2790 sqft.)
This Tree Section home is unconventional, in that they fully converted the garage space to living space as an ADU (alternative dwelling unit). This is very trendy around L.A. and explicitly allowed by new state laws, but it's still new to the suburbs. We'll see if this one draws copycats.
Listed at $3.195M, this one closed at $3.000M.
3528 Walnut is listed by Benjamin S. Lee, Coldwell Banker Realty.
533 13th (2br/2ba, 1194 sqft.)
This is Dave's listing of a 104-year-old classic beach cottage.
Land value in the area is very high, because zoning now allows 3 stories to be built in this district, and there are ocean views.
We chose to feature the house (see our dedicated site with full-screen photos) and got a little lucky: The buyers are keeping it!
Went pending and sold within March, closing for $2.255M on March 31.
533 13th is listed by Dave Fratello, Edge.
2100 Pine (5br/5ba, 3180 sqft.)
This custom classic remains one of our favorites ever in the Tree Section. (Not only because Dave has sold it twice before.)
Listed at $4.000M and standing alone among family-sized homes in the Trees, it lasted just 2 weeks.
2100 Pine is listed by Lynn Lord, RE/MAX Estate Properties.
Sand Section Pendings
409 30th (4br/5ba, 2798 sqft.)
This home is newer construction (2020). It came out in mid-January, but that's a sleepier time.
They cut $200K to $4.795M and were under contract within 2 months... and within March.
409 30th is listed by Edward Kaminsky, eXp Realty of California, Inc.
209 15th (3br/2ba, 1278 sqft.)
This cute remodel near downtown was just bought last year, but the buyers at the time did put in considerable effort to convert the downstairs bedroom into a more proper, complete primary suite, which took some work.
Asking $3.249M, they found a buyer in a month (within March, of course), and closed for $3.150M.
209 15th is listed by Lauren Forbes, Compass.
324 31st (3br/3ba, 2317 sqft.)
This larger-than-expected, highly stylized home features a slightly oversized lot and an extremely favorable position on the hill to garner ocean views. From the roof deck, it's even more amazing.
The listing stacked up Days on Market, however, emerging in the drudgery of Fall 2022 and gaining days throughout Winter.
After a $125K cut to $3.875M, they made a deal in March
324 31st is listed by Christa Lyons, Pacifica Properties Group, Inc.
Hill Section Pending
235 N. Dianthus (5br/5ba, 5152 sqft.)
This corner-lot 1980s house accumulated more than 400 DOM before finding their buyer in March.
It was last at $5.499M, after debuting in mid-2021 at $9.300M.
235 N. Dianthus is listed by David Caskey, eXp Realty of California Inc.
East Manhattan Pendings
1534 Curtis (5br/7ba, 4689 sqft.)
This sizable new construction home came out with an even more sizable price tag ($5.795M), and watch out!
They needed no time flat to put this one under contract. In March.
1534 Curtis is listed by Gary Elminoufi, Beach City Brokers.
24 Westport (4br/4ba, 3256 sqft.)
This partly upgraded Village SFR ("estate home") got extensive attention here at MBC recently on account of its closing price. (See "Same-House Sale Alert: 24 Westport.")
It was listed at $3.499M, racking up a bit more than 90 DOM before a buyer came along.
That buyer paid "only" $3.000M, or $100K below the July 2021 price (hence our "alert"). It went into escrow and closed within the month.
24 Westport is listed by Cindy Shearin, Strand Hill Properties.
1606 22nd (3br/2ba, 1800 sqft.)
This remodeled original home, with a primary suite added above the garage and walls removed downstairs to create a more open feel, came out in late Feb. at $1.999M. In March, it was snapped up.
1606 22nd is listed by Jan Rhees, Avenue 8, Inc.
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Here's the rest of our local real estate market update report for the period ending 3/15/23:
> 57 active listings as of 3/31/23 (+1 from 3/15/23)
> 42 SFRs (flat)
> 15 THs (+1)
See the Inventory list as of 3/31/23 here, or see the MB Dashboard for up-to-the-minute data.
Active listings by region of Manhattan Beach in this report:
> Tree Section: 5 actives (-1)
> Sand Section: 29 actives (+2)
> Hill Section: 9 actives (+1)
> East MB: 14 (-1)
We're also providing a report on closed sales by region of MB.
Sales data, including PPSF for all properties, are organized by sub-region of Manhattan Beach.
Here's a link to the spreadsheet: "MB Pending/Sold as of 3/31/23".
Please see our blog disclaimer.
Listings presented above are supplied via the MLS and are brokered by a variety of agents and firms, not Dave Fratello or Edge Real Estate Agency, unless so stated with the listing. Images and links to properties above lead to a full MLS display of information, including home details, lot size, all photos, and listing broker and agent information and contact information.
Based on information from California Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. as of August 14th, 2024 at 4:50am PDT. This information is for your personal, non-commercial use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties you may be interested in purchasing. Display of MLS data is usually deemed reliable but is NOT guaranteed accurate by the MLS. Buyers are responsible for verifying the accuracy of all information and should investigate the data themselves or retain appropriate professionals. Information from sources other than the Listing Agent may have been included in the MLS data. Unless otherwise specified in writing, Broker/Agent has not and will not verify any information obtained from other sources. The Broker/Agent providing the information contained herein may or may not have been the Listing and/or Selling Agent.