Palos Verdes Drive
Buying a home on Palos Verdes Drive is always an interesting real estate decision. Does the increased car traffic bother a prospective home buyer? Does the pricing allow buyers to get into an area that is normally unaffordable? How will the future home value be affected by the drive’s connotation?
All of these are important things to consider and there is no one-answer-fits-all, especially considering that many sections of the drive have their own unique characteristics.
For instance, P.V. Drive North in Rolling Hills Estates has property with a P.V. Drive address, but they are tucked away from The Drive on large estate lots with big homes. While P.V. Drive North homes in Valmonte tend to be directly on The Drive and affected by auto noise.
P.V. Drive East can vary from older, smaller homes that are affected by the traffic, to gorgeous, larger homes with substantial views of the city and ports. P.V. Drive West in Malaga Cove offers some of the most desirable Drive homes with gorgeous views and pricey properties for such a busy street, while the same P.V. Drive West in Lunada Bay can be much more similar to Drive homes in Valmonte.
And finally, P.V. Drive South has a range of Drive homes that could be borrowed from virtually all of the other sections of the drive bordering the beautiful Palos Verdes Hill. A lot of information, I know, which is why you need to do your homework when buying or selling on The Drive.
Home Sales Data
There are constantly for sale offerings on P.V. Drive and they require careful analysis no matter what the price. Let’s take a look at Valmonte and Lunada Bay P.V. Drive sales for example as these areas tend to have similar home offerings:
2013: 0 Sales / N/A Median Price
2014: 12 Sales / $1,221,500 Median Price
2015: 14 Sales / $1,359,000 Median Price
2016: 14 Sales / $1,620,000 Median Price
2017: 13 Sales / $1,590,000 Median Price
*(to date on 11/20 with four more sales pending in escrow)
Data Analysis
It is quite a shock to see zero Lunada Bay or Valmonte P.V. Drive sales in 2013, but this was when the market was slowly starting to recover from the Great Recession.
Fast forward to 2014. This was the year that set the tone for a new sales trend on the Drive with an explosion of 12 sales. This 2014 action formed a nice baseline of comparable sales for the market to digest over the next few years.
The demand of 2014 fueled an 11% year-over-year median price increase in 2015. With 14 sales, 2015 really marked that PV Drive prices had bottomed and were ready to go higher. Cute, turnkey homes like 3333 PV Drive North seemed a bit pricey at the time but looking back now seem to be pretty good deals. Also, 2100 Palos Verdes Drive West was a large probate sale that instilled confidence on the drive with an old (but still clean) large home on estate lot selling for a number that pushed close $2 million.
The massive jump in median sale price occurred in 2016 with a 19% median price increase form the year before. Really fantastic turnkey homes like 2609 PV Drive West, 2532 PV Drive West, and 3401 PV Drive North drove the market last year.
Lastly, this year has taken a small step back in median pricing, but it looks like 2017 will wrap up the year with the strongest sales pace of each of the last five years with 13 sales to date and another four pending in escrow. Although the price dipped slightly in Lunada Bay and Valmonte Drive homes, the sales demand is a sign that homes should be set to hold their value.
As property gets more and more expensive on The Hill, will buyers continue to sacrifice location to land a cheaper price on PV Drive? Or will they back off and wait for lower prices at their dream location? It will be interesting to see the results in the coming year.
Richard Haynes
DRE: 01779425
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The Richard Haynes Real Estate ShowA leader in South Bay real estate for the better part of a decade, Richard thrives as an advisor to his clients with over $248 million in sales as a broker or investment principal at his boutique agency, Haynes. Richard is known for his keen local market insights which have been featured in the L.A. Times, The Street, and Forbes, along with his weekly South Bay real estate blog. [read more]