Malibu, Encino at top of the real estate market [Southern California]
For Travis and Leryn Davis, the moment couldn’t be better for moving up. The Davises — with two kids crowding their 1,100-square-foot house — have the good fortune to live in one of the region’s hottest neighborhoods.
As other real estate markets in Southern California plod, stagnate or worse, the Davises’ Encino ZIP Code continues to march right along, enjoying annual price percentage gains in the double digits.
Through the first four months of the year, single-family homes in the 91316 ZIP Code in Encino experienced an 18.2% jump in price over the same period last year when measured by cost per square foot, according to real estate tracker DataQuick Information Systems. Although most buyers focus on median sales prices, analysts say the price per square foot offers the most reliable snapshot of how a market is performing over a wide area.