High End Laguna Home Prices Slash Prices
People looking to buy Laguna Beach homes may be in for a nice surprise, as a good number of high-end homes in the South Coast city have recently slashed their prices. As low market and heavy inventory has led many sellers to cut as much as $5 million off their initial asking price, all in a bid to attract more buyers.
Laguna Beach real estate agents say the price cuts are necessary to keep the market moving. The city is currently among the most stagnant markets in Orange County, with its high end homes spending as many as 12 months on the listings. This is because the economic recession has greatly reduced demand for million dollar homes, and with Laguna Beach properties averaging $2 million in value, the market has been nearly frozen for the past several months.
Steven Thomas of brokerage firm Altera Real Estate says that home buyers now prefer cheaper inland homes to luxury properties. While Orange County homes below $500,000 are selling in as little as a month, most Laguna Beach homes for sale take close to a year to sell, sometimes even more. He calls it a deep buyers market, meaning there are far more properties for sale than there are people able to buy them.
As of mid March, there were well over 300 Laguna Beach properties for sale priced over $4 million. Of these, only 12 had pending sales. Laguna Beach real estate experts say this gives prospective buyers—usually wealthy investors plenty of choice when it comes to choosing property.
The decline in prices has affected other high end areas in Orange County, including Corona del Mar in Newport Beach and Dana Point on the South Coast. In the five most expensive O.C. neighborhoods, median prices plunged more than 25% over the past year, according to real estate information provider DataQuick. Laguna Beach homes for sale have had to cut their prices by as much as 40%, as sellers try to approach the faster selling price ranges.
The upside is that the price cuts are attracting more buyer interest, particularly among foreign investors. A number of Laguna Beach real estate agents are already gearing up to work with this new market, especially as the government has put in new measures to bring in non-U.S. buyers. With foreign investments pumping much-needed money into the market, prices for Laguna Beach properties are expected to stabilize in the next few years.
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