High-End Home Sales Are on the Rise in L.A. County

A Billionaire’s Row home in the Hollywood Hills led the pack among signed contracts in L.A. last week.

The Bird Streets residence, at 1457 Blue Jay Way, priced at just under $16 million, or $1,632 per square foot, topped a weekly signed contracts roundup by Marcy Roth of Douglas Elliman’s Eklund Gomes team.

Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Aaron Kirman and Daniel Milstein have the listing.

Property and state records show the seller is a limited liability company tied to residential developers and designers Elizabeth and Bruce Garratt of the Garratt Group. Their firm specializes in restoring Hollywood Regency, Mid-Century Modern and Victorian properties.

The Hollywood Regency-style residence on Blue Jay Way boasts glass doors with views of the city and ocean.

The five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home spans 9,800 square feet. Amenities include a 14-seat screening room, 500-bottle wine cellar and spa. On the roof is a garden with more than 80 fruit trees. Also growing are vegetables, strawberries and herbs.

Not far behind the Bird Streets home was last week’s second-largest signed contract based on asking price. That would be a lower Bel-Air home at 10820 Ambazac Way, asking nearly $14 million, or $3,654 per square foot.

Christie’s International Real Estate Southern California’s Weston Littlefield and Aaron Kirman have the listing.

The seller is a family trust managed by Jerry Ivery, according to records in PropertyShark.

The 1954-built home has three bedrooms and five baths across 3,839 square feet, plus views of the Bel-Air Country Club’s 17th hole.

It’s big on outdoor entertainment with a tiki hut bar, pool and three hot tubs.

In Los Angeles County, 12 homes went into contract, good for $112.1 million in asking volume, which was up about 38 percent year over year, according to the Eklund Weekly Luxury Report Los Angeles.

The team’s weekly roundup counts only properties listed in the Multiple Listing Service with an asking price of at least $4 million.

Signed contracts offer one view of the market’s health, but they’re not necessarily guarantees of closings.

Closed L.A. County residential deals of $4 million or more increased 10.4 percent over the 90-day period ended Nov. 12, compared to a year ago, according to MLS data pulled by Westside Estate Agency. Median prices for that same timeframe are off 1.2 percent, according to MLS reports from the Beverly Hills-based brokerage.