Santa Barbara Sales Statistics For December

Via the hardworking and ever diligent Gary Woods the statistics for December of 2007 and the entire year have been released from the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. They are broken down in to 2 sections, one reflecting the information for Single Family Residences and Estates and the other section giving information for the Condominium market. The number of closed sales in December was slow and therefore it is hard to rely on information generated from such a small number of sales, but here it is. Homes and Estates saw 44 sales close with a median selling price of $929,000. This compares to 78 sales and a median price of $1,257,500. Condominiums were off as well reporting 12 closed sales and a median price of $526,000 compared to 29 closed sales and a median price of $635,000 in 2006. These declines are not surprising and the good news is that their appear to be some good buys on the market considering that rates are still good.

The sales numbers for the entire year were not all that surprising either. For 2007 there were 886 closed transactions for the SFR Estates category and the median price for the year was $1,231,750. The median price was probably propped up a bit by since the high end was a larger percentage of the market this year. For reference the 2006 numbers were 913 sales and a median price of $1,190,000. For condominiums 2007 ended up with 354 sales and a median price of $629,000. In 2006 there were 332 sales with a median price of $655,000.

My thoughts on the market are this. The number of listings dropped from 2006 to 2007, interest rates have remained low, and the median price has dropped. I think that smart buyers are going to start getting back in to the market in the next few months. Prices will need to remain low since the inventory is still too high for sellers to be in control. Look for an increase in the number of sales for the year, but we may not see this increase until the market gets a little steam. This could happen sometime between March and May. See You In Escrow!