Favored by Asians

How do you spell housing bargains in Japanese? How about P-A-L-O-S V-E-R-D-E-S? As in Palos Verdes Peninsula. The average cost of a three- or four-bedroom 3,000-square-foot house on the Peninsula was $500,000-$700,000 last year.

That’s a bargain compared with the $2 million that’s the going rate for a smaller home in Tokyo’s suburbs.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula, close to the Torrance, Carson, Gardena and Compton offices of Pacific Rim firms, has become the place to buy for Japanese and other Asians coming to Los Angeles, according to Jack Rodman, a managing partner with Kenneth Leventhal & Co. The firm specializes in real estate transactions and monitors the impact of Japanese and other foreign investment on the American economy.

“The attraction in Palos Verdes is the ranch-style homes, which are more like a Japanese home, single-story, spread out,” Rodman said. “The ocean is very attractive and Palos Verdes is a little less expensive than Pacific Palisades, Bel-Air and Brentwood.”