Submarket Snapshot: Santa Monica’s Q1 2016

From the start of the new year to date, Santa Monica is seeing higher commercial asking rents than it did in the same period in 2015.

The average asking rent in 2016 to date was $52.18 a square foot a year ($4.35 a month), compared to $40.67 ($3.89) in the same period a year earlier, according to data from CoStar Group, analyzed by TRData.

The average price-per-square foot on commercial sales rose to $558, compared to $519 in the first three months of 2015.

Leasing was slower than it was in the same period last year. Leases were signed for 182,467 square feet in 2016-to-date, compared to 327,584 in the same period last year.

The largest commercial lease signed so far this year was for 28,882 square feet at 730 Arizona Avenue.

On the residential side, the sale of a house at 501 East Channel Road for $11 million marks the priciest sale so far this year, according to data from Redfin analyzed by TRData. In the same period last year, the priciest sale was for $15.56 million.