After Long Slide, Prop Values Rising Steadily in S M 

Mirror Staff

   Hitting a high in the 1980s, property values in Los Angeles county began a long slide in the early 1990s, but now prices are rising again at a healthy rate. 
   The county’s real estate assessment rolls saw an overall increase of $30 billion in 1998, or 6%, but the increase was nearly twice that in Santa Monica, at 11.02%. Only a few areas topped Santa Monica. Among them were Westlake Village at 13.1%, Beverly Hills at 12.03% and Manhattan Beach at 11.7%. 
   Just four years ago, faced with significant declines in property tax revenues, the county was in serious financial trouble, but with the rise in property values and consequent increase in revenues the county saw an increase in its own revenues of $70 million. 
   Just as property values in general are on the rise, sales of $2 million-plus houses on the Westside are increasing, too.