Los Angeles Beach Cities Resale activity for May 2007

The fantasy persists. Never mind that price cuts are coming in thick and fast in Redondo Beach... the Los Angeles County median house price, as well as the beach city prices, seemingly defy gravity.

Long-time readers know I don't like the way HomeData and DataQuick report these numbers, but nevertheless I will continue to report these numbers. I do notice one thing interesting on these charts. With the exception of the Los Angeles County graphs, and the SFR chart for 90277, no prices, in terms of the moving average, have very recently hit new highs.

                          SFR   MEDIAN   %YOY    CONDO  MEDIAN   %YOY  
COMMUNITY         ZIP    SALES   SFR      CHG    SALES  CONDO    CHG
LA/Westchester    90045   31    $813     -2.9%     3     $366   -18.7%  
El Segundo        90245    9    $850      7.1%     2     $592    11.7% 
Hawthorne         90250   20    $554      6.5%     2     $414    -4.9%  
Hermosa Beach     90254   20    $925    -41.4%     7   $1,179     4.3%  
Lawndale          90260    6    $548      2.3%     6     $434    41.4%  
Manhattan Beach   90266   34  $1,450     20.6%    11   $1,594    49.8%  
Palos Verdes Pen. 90274   28  $1,533     12.2%     2     $385   -67.1%  
Rancho P.V.       90275   39  $1,072    -10.5%     5     $587    -6.1%   
Redondo Beach     90277   22  $1,035     18.6%    15     $763     4.5%   
Redondo Beach     90278   26    $765     -4.1%    30     $670    -5.4%  

The more I look at this data, and the more I compare it to what is going on around me, the more I think this type of reporting has flaws. The Case-Shiller index, in case you are not familiar with it, eliminates the upward median bias due to the trend in construction in recent years to inflate and bloat everything. What we need is a Case-Shiller index for the beach cities. Any volunteers out there? (Sigh.)