June 2009 Santa Barbara South Coast Market Update

Santa Barbara Real Estate Market Update (South Coast)

January - June 2009

For the Santa Barbara South Coast, the single family home market has seen the number of sales rise to the high 70’s and low 80’s range, which is about 20% higher than the number of sales we were seeing in June 2008. Even more encouraging are the number of properties that entered escrow, which was in the 90’s for the month of June 2009 compared to the low 80’s for June 2008.

With the number of sales rising, the median sales price slid back for June to the mid $800,000s after rising each month since February. The median list price for homes entering escrow is also in the mid $800,000 range, so that should be approximately where the median sales price will stay for the moment.

The sales price to original list price ratio rose in June to the high 80's and low 90's - percentile after sliding down into the high 70’s in May. This signifies that prices are starting to hold, particularly in the market under $1M.

The inventory continued to decline in June. There were about 150 new listings in June for a median list price of $1.2 million. The median list price for the overall inventory is at approximately $1.85M, and there are about 625 available homes.

The South Coast Santa Barbara condo market has seen a large improvement for sales in June. The sales for June about doubled (going from the 20's to the 40's) compared to the previous two months. And, the number of condos currently going into escrow is staying in the 40's range, so this pace should continue for now. The number of sales rose, yet the median sales price for those condos dropped back into the $400,000 to $500,000 range. We could stay here for a bit, because the median list price of condos that have been entering escrow are also in the mid-$400,000 range.

Both the single family home and the condo markets are bringing in better numbers than they did last year. If we can keep up this pace, 2009 should be not far off from 2008, and will hopefully turn out even better than 2008.

Stay tuned for next month's update...