Elena Zimina's Real Estate

Two new home price indexes provide further evidence Southern California home prices are softening amid slower sales and rising inventory. The S&P/CoreLogic Case-Shiller Home Price Index released Tuesday, Jan. 29, shows house prices were up 4.4 percent year over year in November in Los Angeles and Orange counties. That’s the smallest gain since September 2012. Meanwhile, the separate and more comprehensive CoreLogic Home Price Index released earlier this month showed house prices up 5.2 percent from year-ago levels in Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire. House prices rose 3.3 percent in Orange County. Those are the smallest gains in L.A. and Orange counties since the summer of 2012 and the smallest gain in the Inland Empire since the summer of 2015. Case-Shiller figures show appreciation is falling in the nation as a whole as well. The firm’s National Home Price Index showed U.S. home prices up 5.2 percent in November – the eighth consecutive month of slowing home

Regardless of whether the Patriots or the Rams take home this year’s Super Bowl title, one thing’s for certain: Atlanta homeowners will come out as the real winners next week. According to exclusive data from VRBO, a vacation rental-by-owner platform, Atlanta homeowners stand to make a whopping $1,300 next weekend if they’re willing to rent out their properties to eager football fans. The average rate on an Atlanta property during February’s upcoming Super Bowl weekend clocks in at $441 per night — 104% higher than the same time last year. It equates to about $1,323 in total potential income. There’s a chance these potential profit estimations are on the low end, though, especially if you look at historical data. In Minneapolis, VRBO hosts saw average rates of $785 per night around Super Bowl LII — or about $2,300 in total weekend profits. In Houston the year before, average rates hit $471 per night or $1,413 for the full weekend. By : Aly J. Yale Contributor

A Manhattan penthouse is now the most expensive home ever sold in the United States. Hedge fund billionaire Ken   Griffin closed on an apartment under construction at 220 Central Park South this week for around $238 million. A spokeswoman for Griffin confirmed the sale, which was originally reported by Wall Street Jurnal  The deed is not yet available in city property records.  The figure destroys the previous New York City record of $100.47 million set in 2014; Computer billionaire Michael Dell was recently exposed as the owner of that penthouse in nearby ONE57. The prior national record was also set that same year when Barry Rosenstein, another hedge fund billionaire, purchased an East Hampton spread for $147 M. Since then, nine-figure sales have been largely concentrated in and around Los Angeles.  However, Griffin, with a net worth of $9.9 billion, is no stranger to massive real estate purchases. Just this week it came out that he spent $122 million on a London home    close

  A new study by Clever Real Estate indicates that the Millennial generation is well on its way to becoming the driving force in the housing market. Buyers 37 years and younger make up the largest share of homebuyers at 36 percent, despite the fact that homeownership rates remain highest among those aged 65 and older as the U.S. Census Bureau reveals. Millennials still see owning a home as part of the American dream, and real estate agents should prepare themselves to better serve this new generation of buyers. Here are some of the report's key discoveries regarding Millennial homebuyers: About 79 percent of Millennials are first-time homebuyers Approximately 82 percent of Millennials are using online tools and real estate agents to guide them in the homebuying process Sixty-seven percent said they would be willing to put an offer on a home that was a "fixer-upper" Millennials value safe neighborhoods, good school districts, walkability and short commutes whe

Two years ago, Mike Saavedra moved to Southern California, equipped with a new high-paying healthcare job and a plan. The former Arizona resident would rent by the beach while becoming familiar with neighborhoods where he may want to purchase a house. But a few months after starting his search, the Manhattan Beach renter cut it off. It was, he decided, the wrong time to buy. “I definitely think home prices are slightly overinflated,” Saavedra, 48, said. And he thinks there’s a good chance they’ll fall. “I would kind of like to wait and see if that happens.” After nearly seven years of sometimes fevered price hikes, the Southern California housing market has  slowed markedly  in recent months. Sales have fallen from year-ago levels and price appreciation has shrunk. In Los Angeles and Orange counties, year-over-year price increases peaked at 8.2% in April and have declined every month since. In October, home prices in those counties rose 5.5% over th

Three cities in the U.S. made the list of the world’s least affordable housing markets. No surprise, they are all in California. Among the top 10, San Jose ranked No. 5, Los Angeles No. 6 and San Francisco No. 8. on a list compiled and released this week by urban planning consulting firm  Demographia . For the ninth consecutive year, Hong Kong claimed the top spot as the least affordable city in the world. The median property price in that city climbed to 20.9 times the median household income in 2018, according to the STUDY, up from 19.4 in 2017. By comparison, the median property price was 9.4 times the median household income in San Jose, 9.2 times in Los Angeles and 8.8 times in San Francisco. Demographia’s study analyzed 309 metropolitan areas in eight countries, concluding that 29 were “severely unaffordable.” The U.S. claimed 13 of those severely unaffordable markets – more than any other country. But, the U.S. is also home to all of the nine major affordable mar