Encino

Ventura Boulevard splits Encino into two different housing markets. Here is what each side looks like, what homes there actually cost, and how fast they move.

The housing stock

North of Ventura Boulevard, Encino runs on a flat street grid. Most of the homes there are single-story ranch houses built in the 1950s and 1960s, sitting on regular rectangular lots. It is the kind of layout that makes a driveway and a backyard the default, not the exception.

South of the boulevard, the streets climb into the hills toward Mulholland Drive. Lots get bigger and less regular as the grade increases, and the homes get more varied: midcentury post-and-beam houses sit alongside larger estates built or rebuilt in the last two decades. There is also a band of condominium and townhome buildings along and near Ventura Boulevard itself, closer to the 101, which is where most of Encino's multifamily housing sits.

The numbers

Closings here, refreshed monthly, so you are reading this market, not last year's. These numbers come from 24 months of real closings in Encino. Zillow shows national averages.

Live market numbers are updating. Call Kurt for today's picture.

What your money buys

Each price band below shows what actually closed in Encino at that budget over the last 24 months, from bedrooms and square footage to whether the home carried an HOA fee. Bands with too few closings to be honest are left off rather than guessed at.

How fast homes move

The days on market a home carries tells you how much competition you are walking into. The chart below shows how the last 24 months of closings in Encino actually broke down.

Getting around

The 101 (Ventura Freeway) runs east to west through Encino, and it is the fastest way in or out for most trips. The 405 is a few minutes east through Sherman Oaks, and it carries you north over the Sepulveda Pass toward the Westside and Santa Monica, or south toward LAX. Mulholland Drive threads along the ridgeline above the boulevard, connecting the hillside streets to the pass roads on either side.

Rough drive times off-peak: Downtown LA runs about 25 to 30 minutes east on the 101 to the 110. The Westside and Santa Monica run about 20 to 25 minutes south on the 405 over the Sepulveda Pass. Burbank and the studio district are about 15 minutes east on the 101. All of these stretch considerably during rush hour, same as anywhere else in the Valley.

Parks and daily life

Los Encinos State Historic Park sits right on Ventura Boulevard, built around a natural spring-fed pond with grounds you can walk. The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, just over the line into Van Nuys, has a paved bike path along the Los Angeles River, golf courses, and open athletic fields. Ventura Boulevard itself is the daily commercial spine of the neighborhood, with shops, restaurants, and services running its full length through Encino.