With all the media attention on the “declining” real estate market I decided to do a little digging into what has happened in my own neighborhood, the Hollywood Riviera.  Hollywood Riviera is a small section of South Torrance (a lot of it has a Redondo Beach P.O. Box – thus many of us say we live in Redondo Beach.  That is another story.)  Homes in the Hollywood Riviera had an average price in the year 2000 of $648,000.  In 2006 that price almost doubled and averaged $1,115,486.  That is a 72% gain in 6 years – not bad!  Since 2007 just ended, we show the average price of a home in the Hollywood Riviera actually increased 2.5% to $1,143,959.   Now the interesting part also has to do with the number of units sold.  Back in 2000, 143 houses were sold in the Riviera – that’s a lot.  There are about 3100 homes in the entire area.  In 2006, that number dropped to 88 homes sold.  Yet in 2007, 90 homes sold – so at least there was more activity.  The last quarter of 2007 showed 8 homes in escrow – that is a lot of activity for that slower time of year.  As those sales post to the SOLD category, we will be off to a good start in 2008!