\u201cMy first reaction was, \u2018Wow, I guess we\u2019re really doing this,\u2019\u201d Lynch, 55, said in an interview. The all-cash transaction was\u00a0completed<\/a>\u00a0on April 23. \u201cI was really surprised by this level of interest and how quickly it sold,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Enlarge image This Brentwood home was listed for $1.55 million and had more than 100 people look at it during three open houses. It received 11 offers and is set to close escrow on May 23 for $1,705,000. Source: Coldwell Banker Previews International via Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Enlarge image This Brentood house originally listed for $3,625,000; after seven offers a deal was reached within 10 days for the sale of the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home for $3.85 million. Source: Coldwell Banker Previews International via Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Enlarge image This home located in Santa Monica two blocks from the beach, was sold in mid-April for $2.85 million after receiving multiple bids within the first week of having been listed. The agency that sold it to a husband-wife couple with four kids was Beverly Hills-based\u00a0Rodeo<\/a>Realty Inc. Source: Rodeo Realty Inc. via Bloomberg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Bidding wars are breaking out for luxury\u00a0homes<\/a>\u00a0in such wealthy Los Angeles enclaves as Brentwood, Beverly Hills and Bel Air as an increasing number of buyers bet on rising home prices and investors return to the market. Even properties in need of extensive renovation are being fought over by shoppers who expect to resell them for more after a remodel or rebuild.<\/p>\n \u201cThe percentage of people who think prices are only going to go up is the greatest I have ever seen in my career,\u201d said Syd Leibovitch, president of\u00a0Rodeo Realty Inc.<\/a>\u00a0in\u00a0Beverly Hills<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sales of Beverly Hills homes priced at $2 million and higher climbed 11 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 39, according to DataQuick, a San Diego-based provider of property information. In Brentwood, whose residents include actress and singer\u00a0Julie Andrews<\/a>, they increased 56 percent to 25, and in Malibu they gained 64 percent to 23.<\/p>\n Throughout the U.S., residential-property sales of $1 million and higher rose 7.2 percent in March, the most recent month for which figures are available, from a year earlier, according to the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors, whose price categories stop at that amount.<\/p>\n Across U.S.<\/p>\n Demand has been rising for high-end homes in the northeastern U.S., including\u00a0Boston<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0New York<\/a>; on the California coast; and in parts of the southern U.S. amid a recovery in financial markets, according to Paul Bishop, vice president of research at the Realtors group.<\/p>\n In Brentwood and Beverly Hills, homes usually start between $2.8 million and $3.2 million for those on smaller lots in low- lying areas, and can go as high as $20 million for larger plots, according to John Gould, manager of Rodeo Realty\u2019s Beverly Hills office. Properties in hillier areas, which usually are larger and have views, tend to range from $5 million to $75 million.<\/p>\n In the Los Angeles area, multiple offers — as many as a dozen per home — have reduced listing times for the highest- priced houses as bidders worried about losing out act faster than they have in the past two years, according to Stephen Shapiro, cofounder of\u00a0Westside Estate Agency<\/a>\u00a0in Beverly Hills.<\/p>\n While luxury properties used to linger on the market for weeks and months as recently as 2011, offers now come in on the day of the first showing, a phenomenon that was common during the 2007 buying frenzy, Shapiro said.<\/p>\n \u201cIn recent history, buyers would look at homes and return six months later to find the same home was still on the market,\u201d he said. \u201cNow if buyers hesitate, the house is often sold by the time they come back. And each time one sells, the next one comes on at a higher price.\u201d<\/p>\n Sales remain less than the record reached from 2005 to 2007, said Leibovitch of Rodeo Realty. In Beverly Hills, where celebrities including\u00a0Sharon Stone<\/a>\u00a0have homes, first-quarter transactions for properties priced $2 million and higher were 40 percent below the 65 homes sold in the third quarter of 2005, and in Brentwood the 25 purchased were 49 percent below 2007\u2019s second quarter, according to DataQuick.<\/p>\n Deals are being held back in part by a shortage of willing sellers. Nationwide, about 2.37 million existing homes were listed for sale in March, the fewest for the month since 2005, the year U.S. home sales reached a record 7.08 million, the National Association of Realtors reported April 19.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could have twice as many sales if we had more inventory,\u201d Leibovitch said.<\/p>\n A total of 19,284 houses and condominiums sold in Los Angeles and five other Southern California counties in April, DataQuick reported yesterday. That was down 3.4 percent from March, and 21 percent below the average for April since 1988.<\/p>\n Jack Massopust listed his 92-year-old father\u2019s Brentwood home, which boasts views of the city, the\u00a0Pacific Ocean<\/a>\u00a0and Catalina Island, on April 3 for $1.55 million. Within about a week, more than 100 shoppers had come to three open houses, and the 3,200-square-foot (300-square-meter) house, which Massopust\u2019s father bought new in 1960, had received 11 offers. Eight were at or higher than the asking price.<\/p>\n The property,\u00a0listed<\/a>\u00a0through Mary Lu Tuthill of\u00a0Coldwell Banker Previews International<\/a>\u00a0in Brentwood, is in escrow, expected to close May 23, for about $1.705 million. The purchasers agreed to a \u201cbuy as is\u201d condition, Massopust said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have always appreciated the location and the view,\u201d said Massopust, 64, a retired transportation engineer for the city of Los Angeles. \u201cThat\u2019s in my opinion what sold the house for that price. But I was still very surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n Sales volume for homes priced $5 million and higher at all of Coldwell\u2019s West Los Angeles offices was up 35 percent this year through May 8 from a year earlier, according to Joyce Rey, the Beverly Hills-based head of the estates division at Coldwell Banker Previews International.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an added degree of confidence in the future and that prices are likely going to go up,\u201d Rey said. \u201cThere is a definite change in consumer attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n Tuthill, who also brokered the sale of Lynch\u2019s house, said an increasing number of homes sell within a week of being listed. One 6,000-square-foot property on Tower Road in Beverly Hills, in escrow and scheduled to close by the end of the month, came on the market at $7.295 million and within a week received five offers, the highest of which was for more than $2 million greater than the asking price, Tuthill said.<\/p>\n The increase in demand for high-end properties is being driven in part by investors looking to make a profit, a buyer pool that\u2019s been almost nonexistent the past couple years, according to Rey. She said investors have grown to about 20 percent of the shoppers she represents since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n Throughout\u00a0Southern California<\/a>, the portion of investor purchases was close to a record last month, and the share of buyers paying cash was double the historical average, according to DataQuick.<\/p>\n \u201cThe speculative buyer is back,\u201d Rey said. \u201cThis is the first time since 2007 that I have investor clients again.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s buoying an increase in bids for homes that need major work, she said.<\/p>\n One house on a 25,000-square-foot lot in Brentwood hadn\u2019t been on the market in more than 50 years and was considered a \u201cborderline tear-down,\u201d according to Tuthill. The home, with original 1930s kitchen and bathrooms, was listed at $5.495 million at the beginning of March and received five offers, the highest of which was $5.6 million. After the seller countered at $5.695 million, two bidders upped their offers to $5.7 million and one jumped to $5.75 million, the eventual selling price.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were always joking that we were holding it together with bubble gum and paper clips,\u201d Tuthill said. \u201cThe initial reaction was that this property was priced too high for recent comparables. But what brokers underestimated is the pent-up demand.\u201d<\/p>\n A home on Bel Air Road in Bel Air came on the market in mid-March at $10.25 million and the final purchase agreement was signed for $1 million more. Escrow is scheduled to close next week.<\/p>\n The mid-century house, once owned by the late television host Art Linkletter, hadn\u2019t been on the market in 40 years. The buyer is considering a major renovation or tearing it down, Tuthill said.<\/p>\n \u201cThose types of properties are more in demand than ever,\u201d said Leibovitch of Rodeo Realty. \u201cWith\u00a0interest rates<\/a>\u00a0as low as they are, investors can really get a good deal.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Bidding](\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/image\/idbolGkhEhr4.jpg\")
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<\/a><\/div>\n![\"Bidding](\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/image\/iASYQ0Fh_.wM.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nActing Quickly<\/h2>\n
Too Few Sellers<\/h2>\n
\u2018Very Surprised\u2019<\/h2>\n
Speculators Back<\/h2>\n
Bidding War<\/h2>\n
Major Renovation<\/h2>\n