Palos Verdes’ Silver Spur Home Prices are Going Higher

The Silver Spur sub-market on the Palos Verdes Hill has been a long time hidden gem with amazing affordability and top-notch schools. Over the past decade, the area has been known for three- and four-bedroom starter homes around 1,800 square feet offering incredible value for first-time home buyers. Pair that with one of the best locations to get on and off The Hill (or deeper into the The Hill), this sub-market is slowly making a name for itself.

See more about the area in our Silver Spur neighborhood profile here.

Median Price Homes

After the Great Recession, the Silver Spur sub-market median price was well below $1 million. Even up until 2015, the trailing 12-month median price was just $995,000.

South Bay residents began realizing the value of this area with its amazing location, beautiful views, and majority of locations falling within the boundary of the Blue Ribbon-awarded Silver Spur Elementary. (Fun fact: I am a Silver Spur Alum. Go Broncos!) A small section of this sub-market does not go to Silver Spur Elementary, but falls into another top-notch Blue Ribbon boundary – Montemalaga Elementary.

More recently, in 2016 and 2017, the median price in the Silver Spur market ascended to around $1.1 million. This jump higher demonstrated real interest in the area, but real estate professionals probably wondered if the demand was short-term or here to stay.

In 2018, demand continued to grow and the Silver Spur real estate market was taken to a new level…

Big Sales

Although not your typical home listings in the area, two big view sales shook-up the market. Let’s take a look…

• 5357 Bayridge Road
  • Sold in 2012 for $979,000

Bayridge Road, for those unfamiliar with the area, is located on a quiet and relatively unknown street…with some huge views. The owners timed the market perfectly in 2012 with the purchase of a distressed tear-down home on a big lot with those big views. It closed for $979,000.

That home purchase in 2012 turned into a stunning 3,262 square foot Plantation-style home built in 2013 and then was sold for $3.58 million in April 2018, at almost $1,100 per square foot, which is basically unheard of for a home of this size in the area.

• 5357 Bayridge Road
  • 5 bed, 5 bath, 3,262 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $3,580,000

The above sale cleared the way for another high-watermark deal at 26104 Basswood Avenue.

• 26104 Basswood Avenue
  • 3 bed, 2 bath, 1,852 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,890,000

Again, this property had big views and an open floor plan, needing just a bit of love, but still sold for $1.89 million. This meant the buyers believed it would be worth over $2 million after updating the finishes.

The 3,200 square foot view home at Bayridge, helped to value the big sale of the 1,800 square foot view home at Basswood…proving the market could attract big money buyers. So with these big comps, what were the non-view homes now worth?

The market took this as a positive sign. That is when the rest of the market took notice, both retail buyers and speculators alike. As the old saying goes: “a rising tide lifts all ships.”

Existing Home Sales

As the real estate market took a closer look at this area, slightly bigger existing homes in good condition began hitting the market for prices well-above $1.1 million. Let’s dive into those properties…

• 26373 Silver Spur Road
  •  3 bed, 2 bath, 2,120 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,410,000 (located on a busy street)

• 26221 Basswood Avenue
  • 4 bed, 3 bath, 2,208 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,460,000

• 26427 Basswood Avenue
  • 4 bed, 4 bath, 2,385 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,500,000 (directly across from the busy elementary school pick-up lot)

Additionally, we saw flippers come in and take chances on sub-2,000 square foot homes that far exceeded the $1.1 million median price of the past two years. Check them out below…

• 5505 Eau Clair Drive
  • 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,890 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,250,000

• 26311 Birchfield Avenue
  • 4 bed, 3 bath, 1,939 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,365,000

Pair this with even bigger-sized and bolder flips, and you have a full-blown market frenzy in 2018.

• 26803 Basswood Avenue
  • 3 bed, 3 bath, 2,100 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,550,000

This flipper nailed down $1.55 million, a big price for the tricky location and cut-through traffic section of the street.

• 5419 Whitefox Drive
  • 4 bed, 3 bath, 2,264 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2019 for $1,740,000

A flip with big views got a fabulous price of $1.74 million.

Compared to the typical sales in years past, these Silver Spur closings represented a huge jump for the area and are further fueling the market higher.

Trending Higher & A Great Buy

This January, the trailing-12 median price jumped by almost eight percent to $1,177,500 and will almost assuredly go higher.

There are three additional pending flip sales in the area that will set the bar even higher for the respective location. I am excited about these sale because of a great buy my clients made last year. See below…

• 5529 Diversey Drive
  • 4 bed, 2 bath, 1,839 sq. ft.
  • Sold in 2018 for $1,149,350

We toured and underwrote a listing at 5529 Diversey Drive and beat out over six offers to close just under $1.15 million, which was $75,000 over its asking price.

At the time, it was a high price to pay for a fixer, but we could see the strong tailwinds for the area along with demand from buyers. It seemed like a great bet.

Back to the good news (one of the three flips in escrow), and how my client’s savvy purchase will pay-off. Last week, just eleven months later and a block away, this flip hit the market…

• 26126 Birchfield Avenue
  • 3 bed, 3 bath, 1,912 sq. ft.
  • Asking $1,538,000

Currently asking $1.538 million, this flipper took almost the exact same size home and downsized it to three bedrooms. This property flew off the market in less than six days and will likely go well over asking.

My clients on Diversey Drive, not being flippers, made nicer upgrades and they have better city views. So in less than a year, when including their remodel costs, they are sitting on $100k to $200k in equity. I believe this was a pretty safe bet if you took the time to understand the local market real estate data.

Conclusion

The Silver Spur market is still affordable and still in high demand. There are plenty of great opportunities in this area like Diversey Drive. Take for instance, this property on Elmbank Road…

• 5422 Elmbank Road
  • 4 bed, 3 bath, 2,249 sq. ft.
  • Asking $1,335,000

If you are considering this area, you better move quickly before the prices adjust to a truly efficient market. =” (opens in a new tab)”>Elmbank Road has some promise at the right price.

If you are looking for more detailed information on the area, feel free to give me a call. And also, I would be happy to share what I think is the next under-valued Silver Spur market.

Happy hunting!

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