Opinion: Venice versus Venice: How L.A.’s real estate prices stack up to neighborhoods around the world

Los Angeles is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the United States. The high cost of purchasing a home can skew residents' perceptions of what normal prices look like.

To get a sense of what L.A. housing prices look like in a global context, my colleagues and I compared the cost of a two-bedroom residence in various L.A. neighborhoods to their counterparts in some of the world's leading cities.

What we found was surprising: On a price-per-square-foot basis, almost every neighborhood of Los Angeles is priced the same as some of the best neighborhood and resort areas worldwide.

There were also some neat coincidences:

• At $944 per square foot, L.A.'s Venice compares to the historic San Marco neighborhood ($907 per square foot) of the actual Venice in Italy.


• Similarly, at $237 per square foot, West Athens compares to the prestigious Kolonaki neighborhood ($228 per square foot) of Athens, Greece.


• Downtown's L.A.'s South Park ($611 per square foot) and Silver Lake ($678 per square foot) compare to the historic Le Suquet neighborhood ($631 per square foot) of Cannes, France.


• Buying a home in Crenshaw ($363 per square foot) is just as expensive as buying a place in Barrio Brasil ($360 per square foot), one of the most desirable neighborhoods of Santiago, Chile.


• At the other end of the price spectrum, some of the individual condos in downtown L.A. are going for well over $1,000 per square foot, making the closest comparison the neighborhood of Oia ($1,017 per square foot) on the island of Santorini in Greece.

What was the inspiration for this map? For too long, real estate data have been incredibly opaque. Our hope is that gathering data on some of the top cities in the United States and worldwide and displaying it through neighborhood reports, charts and infographics will help people make better sense of their real estate options.

Cities are inherently fascinating and complex. Conveying that sense of excitement while making the data accessible and playful is the goal.

Constantine Valhouli is the co-founder of NeighborhoodX, a soon-to-launch site that explores cities at the neighborhood level. Follow NeighborhoodX on Facebook or Constantine on Twitter at @c_valhouli.