LA’s Condo Market Drives Luxury Resi Contract Activity

Contract activity in Los Angeles County staged a comeback, with the condominium market last week leading the way out of a sluggish period.

“This week’s report is all about condos, with our return to normal volumes being bolstered by the $48.2 million in condo contracts signed last week,” said agent Marcy Roth about the Douglas Elliman Eklund Gomes team’s weekly contracts report.

Eklund Gomes’ roundup counts listings on the MLS of $4 million or more.

Condos, while typically commanding a large share of contracts on any given week, managed to “dominate the market,” said Roth, an Eklund Gomes team member, with an average price listing price of $9.6 million last week across five properties.

That compared with single-family residential’s $99.9 million in volume across 17 contracts, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report Los Angeles.

On an average price-per-square-foot basis, the condo segment continued to maintain its edge over single-family homes. Condos that went into contract last week had an average price per square foot of $2,277. Single-family contracts last week equated to an average of $1,344 per square foot.

In all, last week ended with 22 properties going into contract, totaling $148.2 million in asking dollar volume. That’s up from the slowdown of the past couple weeks, with the prior seven-day period ended March 2 yielding 13 contracts good for $75.8 million in listing price volume.

West Hollywood’s 8899 Beverly residences saw the combined units of 7B/7E go into contract. The property is listed at just under $16 million.

Property and state records indicate the seller is a San Mateo, Calif.-registered LLC named after the building’s address.

Brett Oppenheim of Oppenheim Real Estate holds the listing.

The property has three bedrooms and five bathrooms across 5,370 square feet, according to the listing. Standouts of the space include panoramic views, 11-foot sliding glass doors, wraparound balconies and over $1 million pumped into upgrades.

Last week’s second-largest contract based on listing price was another condo, unit 2302 inside The Carlyle.

Coldwell Banker Realty’s Jade Mills and Emanuele Rizzo have the listing located at 10776 West Wilshire Boulevard with a $14.5 million asking price.

Records show the unit was last sold in 2014, when Richard and Roselee Benaron bought the property for $7.9 million.

The three-bed, five-bath home in L.A.’s Westwood neighborhood is nearly 5,200 square feet and commands a half floor at the building. The unit touts views of the city and ocean, a private elevator, 10- to 12-foot ceilings and a veranda.