Culver City Observer -

Single Family Homes

After several months of price increases month after month, single family home prices seemed to level off a little in march but they are cruising along at new highs. Only 4 homes actually closed escrow last month. This is the lowest number of closings, in Culver City proper, that I've seen in 14 years! If the low, super low inventory continues expect the price rises to extend further into 2014.

Rates are stable around the 4.5% range, and most lenders I talk to do not see any precipitous increases coming any time soon. With this in mind, there should be no reason for the rise in prices to be abated.

The triple threat of a good school system, a small locally governed city and a wonderful downtown with theaters, restaurants and shops have propelled Culver City into one of the most desirable places to live on the West Side. I sold a Culver City home recently to some buyers who where looking at purchasing a home in the Santa Monica area, after realizing how little their $1.3M would get them in our neighboring beach town, they didn't hesitate to decide to move to Cuvler City once they understood how much more home they could buy, and still get all the features outlined at the top of this paragraph.

Condominiums

Culver City Condominiums and Town-homes did a little better than cruise control, after months of lagging behind single family home price rises (this sector of the market surpassed the previous high of 2007 in the middle of last year) average prices also broke through the high set in 2007. There appears to be a strong pool of buyers looking to get into Culver City before they are priced out of owning a home here altogether.

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There is also an investor pool that have a sharp interest in this section of the market, it's still possible to purchase a condo in some areas of Culver City and have positive cash flow. Rents are so good, because of the triple threat mentioned above, that parking some cash into a condo can yield a better return that a CD or savings account.

One final note, currently through a network of local agents, I know there are over 50 homes on the west side that are available for sale that are NOT on the MLS or open market. This is quite a phenomenon, given the low inventory you would think all sellers would jump at the chance to expose their home to the fullest extent. Not the case. Last year I placed 4 buyers into homes that were not on the open market.