LJ’s ‘typical’ house price tops in U.S.
Four-bedroom averages more than $2 million
It costs the prettiest penny to live in coastal San Diego County.
A study by Coldwell Banker concluded single-family homes in La Jolla — the only local community in the survey — are the least affordable in the United States. Specifically, a 2,200 square-foot, four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom house would on average cost $2.125 million ($965 per square foot) here, $150,000 more than runner-up Beverly Hills.
The most affordable neighborhood came out to be Grayling, Mich., known as the canoe capital of the world, where a similar house would cost $112,675 — $56 a square foot.
“I’d rather be in La Jolla Boogie boarding than in Michigan canoeing on a river,” said Rick Hoffman, president and chief operating officer of Coldwell Banker.
Local Realtors contacted couldn’t come up with a matching “typical” house in Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach or Carmel Valley. But comparing price-per-square-foot of some home gives a sampling of market values:
A four-bedroom, four-bathroom home with 4,000 square feet in Carmel Valley recently sold for $1.7 million, $345 a square foot, while a comparable house in Del Mar is listed at $3.45 million, or $863 per square foot for 4,000 square feet.
They also said the average home price for a four-bedroom, three-bathroom Solana Beach home with about 2,700 square feet home is $1.7 million or $630 a square foot.
Coldwell Banker’s Hoffman said het thinks “La Jolla may be a little bit unique because of the product they identify.”
“Take Beverly Hills,” he added. “There are a lot of very, very large houses in Beverly Hills that sell for very, very high prices, but not as many four-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom houses.”
Hoffman said one reason La Jolla placed high in the study rather than the other areas is because it has more four-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom homes. For example, Manhattan was not included because there is a lack of this type of single-family home in the New York Borough.
The same reasoning can be applied to Rancho Santa Fe, where homes and lots are typically larger and zoned for equestrian use.
“Of all the areas right now, Rancho Santa Fe has become very affordable,” said Patricia Kramer of Kramer and Martin Real Estate. “People are responding to today’s market.”
Kramer said a four-bedroom condo in the area, which would not be counted in the Coldwell Banker study since it is not a single-family home, would cost about $1.9 million.
“There are only a few four-bedroom condos in the village (of Rancho Santa Fe), maybe one or two,” she said.
Real estate agent Patricia Martin said Del Mar’s prices generally have a wider range than La Jolla’s. It all depends on whether the home is located in the small coastal section or the actual city of Del Mar.
The tract homes that make up Carmel Valley, just east of Del Mar, hold less value because they are not worth as much as custom homes.
It’s just an ordinary neighborhood, Martin said.
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