By Lookout Staff
August 4, 2009 -- Real estate in pricey Santa Monica remains on shaky ground, with commercial landlords reportedly dropping prices, while home prices showed an increase last month, according to industry reports.
Santa Monica remained among the ten most expensive California cities to buy a home, with the median price of an existing, single-family detached home fetching $1,022,000, compared to the statewide median of $274,740, according to June sales figures posted by the California Association of Realtors.
Beverly Hill topped the list with a median home price of $1,775,000, followed by Manhattan Beach, with $1,475,000. Santa Monica was eigth.
But when it came to the California cities with the greatest median home price increases, Santa Monica ranked third, with a 5.9 percent hike, compared to June 2008. Laguna Hills, with a 20.6 percent jump, and Diamond Bar, with a 6.2 percent increase topped the list.
When it came to commercial real estate, the picture was decidedly bleak. The average asking price dropped nearly a $1 a foot as landlords struggled to keep their buildings occupied, according to a Reuters report. The average new lease is now $4.74 a square foot.
The report predicts the downward trend would continue.
This month, Knoll Inc. renewed its lease of 15,193 square feet at 214 Wilshire Boulevard for the next 124 months for $8.4 million, according to CoStar Group.
Knoll will remain in the 31,062-square-foot in the second floor space it has occupied in the multi-tenant retail property for the past 10 years.
