Santa Barbara Real Estate Market Update - Through April 2010

Statistical Update for our Santa Barbara Real Estate Market (ending April 2010)

During April 2010 for the Home Estate/PUD market, sales were in the mid 80’s with the median sales price remaining steady around $880,000. For contrast in April ’09 there were 68 sales with an $840,000 median sales price. Even with the increased activity in the marketplace, the median sales price is remaining level. One nice number, though, is the average sales price for April 2010 was over $2 million compared to April 2009 when the average sales price was about $1.3 million. This shows a substantial increase in the sales of our higher priced homes.

April 2010 saw 120 new escrows open, which is up from about 100 in March and 62 in February. The median list price on those escrows remained around $890,000. What took a tumble in April was the Sales Price to Original List Price Ratio which again dipped to about 77%. This decline in the ratio is due primarily to higher priced properties that have started to sell but at a significant reduction from their original list price.

The inventory went up substantially in April with more than 200 new listings. The overall inventory rose by more than 100 homes from the month of March. We ended April with about 580 properties available for purchase. The new listings median list price of just over $1 million continues to get closer to the median sold price for the month, which means that sales should continue to surge forward. Also, the median list price on the overall inventory continues to fall and is currently hovering around $1.7 million down from about $1.8 million for most of 2009.

Montecito home sales are approximately 20% ahead of where they were last year, ending the month with 36 sales, but the median sales price is locked at right around $2.4 million for both years. The pending sales are up about 50% from where they were last year with 46 escrows opened this year, but the median list price on those escrows is down from $2.8 million in 2009 to $2.4 million in 2010.

East of State St home sales are about a third ahead of where they were last year with 65 closed escrows, but the median sales price has dropped about $25,000 to approximately $925,000. The average sales price has remained steady at about $1.1 million. Over on the West Side of Santa Barbara home sales are about 10% ahead of where they were last year with 53 purchases so far, and the median sales price has come up about $50,000 to $800,000. The average sales price is remaining steady at around $890,000.

In Hope Ranch, sales are more than double the number of last year with 9 sold properties this year. The median sales price has risen from $2.55 million last year to $3.5 million this year. The average sales price is also up by more than $1.5 million with some big sales in the area and is currently at around $4 million.

The overall median sales price continues to hover at around $860,000 for the area with prices going up in Carpinteria/Summerland, West of State St and Hope Ranch. Montecito and Goleta North prices seem to have stabilized, compared to 2009 with median sales prices falling for East of State and Goleta South.

For condos, the sales in April moved up from March (ending in the low 30s), but the median sales price bounced back up to around $455,000. For most of last year, condo median sales prices have hovered right around $450,000.

The Sales Price to Original List Price Ratio remains at about 90% which is illustrated by the median list price of the new listings coming on at about $490,000 and the median sales price at around $450,000. There were about 50 new listings that come on the market in April, raising the total inventory to approximately 160 condos for sale from Carpinteria to Goleta.

Since the May numbers should be in shortly, I'll be writing with more stats soon.

(Thanks to Gary Woods for his continued support of SBAOR with monthly statistics.)