So How Much Does It Cost To Buy A House In L.A. This Month?

The answer to the question posed by the headline is $600,000. 😨 At least that's what Redfin reports was the median sale price in Los Angeles during April. Considering the median sale price in March was $575,000, it looks like it's a good time to be selling.

As L.A. Weekly points out, this is 8.1 percent jump from the median sale price last April.

Does all of this mean that later this year we'll see the median sale price jump to over $700,000? Maybe, but also maybe not. Redfin noted that despite the $25,000 median sale price increase between March and April, the L.A. real estate market is beginning to show some signs of slowing.

8 percent fewer properties were sold in April 2016 than in April of 2015. The amount of available housing stock for sale also increased for the fourth month in a row, sitting about 7 percent higher now than this time last year.

This isn't to say that homes aren't still selling like mad. 41 percent of the homes sold in April sold for an amount higher than the original sale value. In North Hollywood, where the median sale price is $490,000, sales were up (not down!) 22 percent from this time last year. By contrast, the extremely expensive Westside—defined roughly as west of La Cienega—saw sales contract by 8.3 percent. Sales in Venice and Malibu were down roughly 20 percent, and sales in Santa Monica—despite the fancy new train— were down 26.6 percent.

Westside homes, however, sell on average for $1.22 million, more than the average sale price of San Francisco.

"Southern California's spring home-buying season got off to a lackluster start with total April sales dipping modestly from a year ago, marking only the second month in the past year to log a year-over-year decline in activity," said Andrew LePage, a CoreLogic research analyst, to L.A. Weekly. "Through the first four months of this year, sales are up less than 3 percent from the same period last year and remain below average. Job growth, household growth and low mortgage rates are fueling housing demand, but many would-be homebuyers continue to struggle with inventory, credit and affordability constraints."

As for the priciest hood in Los Angeles, Hancock Park—that bastion of 'old-money'—boasts a median sale price of $3.1 million.

#goals #pipedream