In west Los Angeles County, just south of the city of Beverly Hills, is the Beverlywood neighborhood, which has winding roads anchored by parks that are the heart of the community. Originally developed into a middle-class enclave in the 1940s, Beverlywood has roughly 1,350 homes within a homes association that regulates house styles, sizes, colors and landscaping and provides 24-hour security patrol. Some people also refer to the surrounding area near the homes association as Beverlywood. “Over the last 10 years, Beverlywood has blown up,” says Marc Noah, a real-estate agent with Sotheby’s International Realty – Beverly Hills Brokerage. “Ten to 15 years ago, you used to be able to buy a house in Beverlywood for $200,000 to $300,000. Today, you can’t buy just land on any of the prime streets for less than $3 million. That $3 million dirt buys you a 6,500-square-foot lot.”
Factors putting Beverlywood on the map
Location, location, location
Beverlywood is danswiched between Beverly Hills, Culver City and Century City. This puts it within close proximity to shopping, dining, movie studios, and tech campuses, not to mention freeways. And the beach is only about 15 minutes west.
Suburban vibes
The streets run predominantly east to west inside the homes association, as opposed to north to south outside of it. This contributes to neighborhood having a set-apart, suburban feel. The community is tight-knit – so much so that some homeowners say it can feel like living in a fishbowl.
Walkability
The neighborhood's design lends itself to families walking around and riding bicycles to parks. This is unusual for Los Angeles, where driving is the main mode of transport. Orthodox Jewish residents also appreciate being within walking distance to nearby synagogues.
Beverlywood by the numbers
“A $2 million house sale attracts a circus in most cases,” says Meir Nemetsky, a Power Brokers real-estate agent. “If you price your house conservatively, because of the competitiveness in the area, you could be dealing with 10 or 20 offers and houses going $100,000 over asking or more." Buyers spend more per square foot. Beverlywood has seen a dramatic rise in its median listing price per square foot since 2017.
$8 Million
Who is buying
Young families are moving in. Buyers frequently have generational wealth, are professionals in industries such as finance, tech or medicine, or have gotten a financial leg up after owning a first house. Big employers nearby in Culver City include Apple and Amazon.
What they are buying
Beverlywood’s older properties are typically single-story ranch houses. Some people buy small with the plan to eventually remodel. Others tear houses down—even nice ones—to build bigger.
How they are renovating
The neighborhood’s architecture is largely traditional though some younger homeowners prefer a more modern look. The association regulates building and landscaping, which some homeowners like, while others would prefer not being governed by a board.
Streets buyers covet
Houses on the northwest side of Duxbury Circle are on a hilly rim; they have bigger lots and views of Hillcrest Country Club below. On the west side of South Roxbury Drive, there are houses that back up to the country club; these houses don’t hit the market very often, but when they do, sales are quite vibrant.
What about home insurance?
In California as a whole, home insurance has become difficult to find and more expensive due to climate risk and the costliness of home-rebuilding coupled with an insurance industry reckoning over adequate pricing, to wildly oversimplify it. That said, in the Los Angeles area, “Beverlywood is one of the more insurable areas,” says Karl D. Susman, president and principal agent of Los Angeles-based Susman Insurance Agency. He points to Beverlywood not being quite as hilly as surrounding areas, and the fact that the neighborhood’s smaller house sizes have a better chance of qualifying for the California FAIR Plan to get basic fire insurance.
Advice for the buyer
“There’s always a lack of inventory in Beverlywood,” says Coldwell Banker real-estate broker Ben Lee. “The tight inventory pulls pricing up. If you want a property, you’ve got to be prepared to fight for it.” He says one creative workaround is buying an under-construction property from a developer. “Sometimes the homeowner can even customize finishes to their taste,” he says.
