$1 Million Home Sales Boost California Market

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | February 17 2011 3:46 PM

While overall home sales in California declined in 2010, one bright spot emerged: Sales in homes costing more than $1 million increased last year for the first time since 2005, reports DataQuick Information Systems.

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The company reported that 22,529 homes sold for $1 million or more in 2010 in California, up 21 percent from 2009. In fact, sales of $1 million or more homes are at their highest levels since 2008, when 24,436 homes sold for $1 million-plus. Million-dollar home sales peaked in 2005 at 54,773, but have steadily declined every year through 2009.

Prestige home buyers respond to a different set of motivations than the rest of us, says DataQuick President John Walsh. Their decisions are less dependent on jobs, prices and interest rates, and more on how their portfolio is doing.

The most expensive home sold in the state last year: A 35,378-square-foot, 15-bedroom, 7-bathroom Bel Air home on 2.2 acres, which sold for $50 million in June.

The California cities that boasted the highest number of $1 million or more home sales last year included San Marino in Los Angeles County, Los Altos in Santa Clara County, Atherton and Hillsborough in San Mateo County, and Rancho Santa Fe in San Diego County.

Source: “Sales of $1 Million-Plus Homes Increased in California Last Year Amid ‘Top-Down’ Recovery,” Associated Press (Feb. 11, 2011)