Hermosa Home Sales Double in 1st Quarter

Hermosa Beach's real estate market has improved in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the same period a year ago, according to data gathered MLS.com, an independent national real estate data website.

Home sales in the South Bay beach city more than doubled. In the first quarter this year there were 51 closed sales, compared with 19 in the first quarter of 2009.

The median price of homes in Hermosa Beach has remained virtually unchanged at $1.03 million. The lowest selling price in the first quarter was $360,000 for a one-bedroom condo compared with $400,000 for a two-bedroom condo in the year-earlier period.

In the upper range, prices maxed out at $5.8 million for a 100-year-old Strand house in the first quarter, compared with 2009's first-quarter high of $2.3 million for a new house on Valley Park Avenue.

Real estate agents working in the area such as Realtor Tony Cordi call the local market's upswing "reassuring and comforting."

"It really looks like we've turned the corner," Cordi said. "The real estate market has stopped sliding."

Although the first quarter numbers are good news for Hermosa Beach residents, people looking to buy low before prices return to peak levels should weigh their options.

"You have to do some homework," said Jack Kyser, founding economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

Kyser warns of bidding wars on homes in the $500,000 range. "Investors are looking for rental properties," he said. "They aren't really flipping homes anymore."

Despite the warnings and potential pitfalls, there is hope that these figures squash the idea of people downsizing out of the beach cities.

"It's not a washout. People aren't just getting out," Cordi said. "It appears that the market has picked up. The slide for the last two to three years is ending. It's a good time to buy but with the usual caveat."

The usual caveats here are the unknowns, and the chief unknown is interest rates. A change from current extreme lows could see buyers reluctant to take out loans. Because of these and other concerns, some experts are reluctant to say the market is definitely on an upswing.

"Higher prices are holding up. Some are willing to say recovery is here; we aren't sure," Kyser said. "The market is very volatile."

Still, in the long term, real estate has been a solid investment. The median price compared with 10 years ago is up 4.5  to 10 percent in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach.

"For someone who bought in 2000, how would (their investment) fare now?" Cordi asks. "Quite well--better than stocks, better than the Dow, better than everything but gold."