A collapse of prices at the low end in L.A.

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The recent post arguing that Los Angeles has split into two real estate markets -- the high-end, where prices are holding relatively steady, and everything else, which is deteriorating quickly -- generated a lot of comment, so I’m back with more.

This time I looked just at the ZIP Codes in L.A. County with 20 or more single-family home sales in February, according to DataQuick’s analysis. Here they are:

Area/ZIP No. of sales Median Price decline from Feb. ’07
Lancaster/93536 50 $258,000 -31.7%
Palmdale/93551 36 $308,000 -25.8%
Reseda/91335 35 $393,000 -26.0%
Norwalk/90650 30 $352,000 -27.8%
Lancaster/93535 29 $202,000 -36.0%
Long Beach/90808 27 $515,000 -8.0%
Altadena/91001 25 $549,000 -8.6%
Granada Hills/91344 24 $469,000 -23.4%
La Mirada/90638 23 $450,000 -16.7%
Lakewood/90712 23 $430,000 -19.9%
LA/Mar Vista/90066 22 $832,000 +0.8%
Lancaster/93534 22 $185,000 -36.2%
Northridge/91325 22 $565,000 -26.1%
Rancho P.V./90275 22 $1.11 Million +3.3%
North Hills/91343 21 $440,000 -21.4%
Palmdale/93552 21 $238,000 -33.9%
Canyon Country/91351 20 $405,000 -19.0%
Claremont/91711 20 $495,000 -16.2%
Pico Rivera/90660 20 $380,000 -20.3%

Playing with numbers can be dangerous, but I’ll try (and I know you will correct me). Slice these ‘liquid’ ZIP Codes into price ranges and average the price changes and this is what you have:
Below $300K: Avg. price change is -34.5%
$300K-$400K: Avg. price change is -26.8%
$400K-$600K: Avg. price change is -17.7%
$600K-$800K: No ZIPs with 20 or more sales
$800K and above: Avg. price change is +2.0%

Your thoughts? Another chart you’d like to see? I don’t have easy access to prices per square foot for a year ago, which is why I ignored advice from a commenter to focus on that metric. Sorry.