By Emily Skehan
Special to the Daily Press

CITYWIDE It’s been a long time since Santa Monica was a moderately affordable city in which to live, but the past year saw the city’s real estate costs reach a whole new level.

The desirable beachside community was one of the top-10 cities in California with the highest median home price increase in 2007.

The average cost of a home in Santa Monica rose 18.7 percent in the past 12 months — an increase on par with other rapidly appreciating cities like Menlo Park and Newport Beach.

“Santa Monica is right on the beach,” said Santa Monica and Brentwood real estate agent Simon Salloom, when asked why the community might be so attractive to residents. “The schools are great. It’s not crowded. Its just a beautiful, magical piece of land and people want to live here.”

But the apparent increase in real estate prices, Salloom pointed out, might not be entirely accurate.

“Not that many homes are sold here because Santa Monica just isn’t congested like other Westside cities,” he said. “That means that average home price increase might not be an incredibly accurate figure.”

“If in one year more homes are sold in the North of Montana area than in, say, Sunset Park, then it’s going to look like there’s been a huge jump in cost,” he explained. “It would be more accurate to evaluate the price increase within each zip code.”

Close to 190 single family homes and 280 condos were sold last year in Santa Monica.

Most single family homes in the community cost around $730,000 — a whopping $400,000 more than the average price in Los Angeles County, and about $600,000 more than the average home in the United States.

These skyrocketing prices might explain why more than half the city’s residents are renters, and why only about 30 percent of Santa Monicans own the property in which they live.

“Santa Monica has everything it needs for people to want to move here,” said San Fernando Valley resident Walter Brandt, “except lower prices.”

Brandt, who is considering moving with his wife Katie to Nashville — in part to seek out more affordable housing — says he would love to live in Santa Monica.

“I’d love to live here, but the price is outrageous,” he said.

“If we moved here from the Valley, we would be getting much less square footage, and we probably couldn’t afford a place with a yard. It just wouldn’t make a lot of sense.”

Locals might flee Santa Monica looking for cheaper shelter, but they should plan on going a little farther than outside city limits for the real deals. The city of Los Angeles is still far from affordable, and is getting worse at a similarly rapid rate. In 2001, a household earning average American income could afford to live in about 40 percent of the housing units in Los Angeles, but by 2007 only 3 percent of homes in Los Angeles were economically feasible for the same income bracket.

Even in such an expensive area, Santa Monica stands out as a particularly far reach financially.

“If I win the lottery, I’ll definitely consider moving here,” Brandt laughed.

news@smdp.com