Wow! Homes Sales Rise In June.

When we have been seeing the number of properties sell in the South Coast hover around or under 100 monthly, 157 is a big increase. The chart reflects 158, but CORT reported a duplicate that I have removed.

That is the highest number of properties selling since August of 2007 when there were 160. It is also well above the highest number of sales in a given month for all of last year of 131.

The area that saw the highest number of sales was Santa Barbara with 77. Goleta had 46, Carpinteria and Montecito both had 15, Hope Ranch had 2, Summerland 1, and Unincorporated Area had 1.

Median prices for the communities of Goleta, Carpinteria, and Santa Barbara continue to be affordable based on years past. Santa Barbara's median price was $715,000. Goleta's was $635,000, and Carpinteria's was $555,000.

Having a 49% jump in the number of sales from May to June was a bit of a surprise, although the activity has been better in recent months. It would appear there was some pent up demand as well as buyers finding the deals they are looking for.

I would like to think the number of sales will continue to stay around 150, but a small increase in rates and the summer holidays may throw a bit of cold water on the activity.

Let me know your thoughts.

Santa Barbara Area Home Sales In April Trend Up!

Well it has been a while since the number of sales on the south coast has exceeded 100 and in April we hit 111. That beats the December number of 108 which was the most recent month over 100.

Since January we have seen a steady climb in sales, and 111 is a 26% increase from March. Not bad!

Carpinteria almost doubled the number of sales and went from 6 to 11. There were 2 high priced properties transferring, 168 Rincon Point Rd for $5,500,000 and 3284 Beach Club Rd for $6,100,000. Check out those properties. I could certainly live there!

Santa Barbara went from 40 transactions to 59 in April. with the highest priced property being 939 Arbolado Road.

Goleta had 24 sales in April. This market appears to be a bit anemic since there isn't much inventory. 24 was only an increase of 1 sale over March's number. Many of the sales in Goleta appear to be condos.

Montecito didn't show much improvement, but did increase from 11 to 13 in April. 1445 S. Jameson Ln. sold for $4,000,000 and that is one terrific looking home. It has a nice photo tour if you want to check it out.

Hope Ranch and Summerland both had properties sell in April when they didn't have any sell in March.

Historically these numbers aren't terrific, but it sure does feel as though buyers are starting to make offers and close transactions at a little brisker pace than they had been the previous few months. I wouldn't be surprised to see the number of transactions be above 100 in the months to come.

If you would like to check some additional information please view this link; CORT-Sales Stats By Area

February 2008 Santa Barbara Association of Realtors Statistics

You may or may not know this, but the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors puts out their official statistics once a month. They wait until the 5th business day of the month to pull their statistics. This policy is consistent with the National Association of Realtors and the California Association of Realtors.

The local statistics that are compiled cover the South County communities of Carpinteria, Summerland, Santa Barbara, Montecito, Hope Ranch, and Goleta.

The Santa Barbara Association breaks down their numbers by property type, price range and district. Some of the most commonly used information is median price , the days on market, the number of new listings, and the number of sold properties.

So much is made of the median price and whether it is going up or down.

I don't think that will really give us an idea of how healthy our market is so I'm going to focus on a couple of things here. Those things are the number of currently pending transactions, days on market, and new listings.

My thoughts are these, our market is just like most others. It is based on supply and demand. Therefore if you start tracking the number of properties that are currently in escrow and you track how long it is taking properties to sell you can get a good idea of the demand.

As far as the supply goes, I think you need to keep an eye on the number of properties that are coming on the market. That gives you an idea of how many folks are deciding to sell or where your supply is.

Here are those numbers for Feb 08 vs. Feb 07 for condos
There were 33 properties in escrow in 08 vs. 38 in 07.
Days on market in 08 was 86 vs. 165 in 07.
The number of new listings for 08 was 51 vs. 74 in 07.

Some of the differences are pretty striking. February of 2008 is showing a significant decrease in the time it takes to sell a property. Combine that with fewer properties to sell and just a few less properties in escrow and you could argue that the demand for Condominiums is going up. That strikes me as a healthy market. I have heard that properties that are coming on the market are better priced and sellers are more ready to sell than they were a year or more ago. These are the pieces of information that make me believe the volume of properties that are selling is going to start increasing.

What are the numbers for homes in the Santa Barbara area Feb. 08 vs. Feb 07?
There were 79 properties in escrow in 08 vs. 95 in 07.
Days on Market in 08 was 96 vs. 105 in 07.
The number of new listings for 08 was 140 vs. 120 in 07.

The statistics for home sales don't show quite the same picture as the ones for condos. As you can see the time to sell a home is decreasing but isn't as significant as it was with condos. The number of properties in escrow is significantly less and the number of listings is up. So if you use the same logic here you aren't seeing the demand improving yet. The good news is that the days a property is taking to sell is coming down. That tells me that well priced homes are getting snapped up. Maybe these numbers are telling us that sellers haven't quite figured out where they need to be based on the demand that is out there. Time will tell. I do think the next few months will start showing some of the same signs the condo market is showing.

So my quick opinion on the health of the market is that we are seeing signs of it transitioning from one where supply was high and demand was low to one where the supply and demand are more balanced. It will be fun to see if I'm even close.

See You In Escrow!

September Appreciation Rates

I have just completed the appreciation rates for the South Santa Barbara County. This is a comparison of the median prices for homes and condos in the south county compared to the median price last year. Overall the south county saw a 6% increase in median prices in September of 2007 from September 2006. Santa Barbara was down 3% to $905,000 and Goleta was up 4% to $861,000. Montecito was up a whopping 31%. In Sept. 2006 the median price in Montecito was 2,247,500 and in Sept. 2007 it climbed to 2,950,000. Carpinteria did not see any change. It's median price stayed at $650,000. Hope Ranch only had 4 sales in Sept. 07 and saw a 169% increase in it's median price. Summerland saw a huge increase as well, but there was only 1 sale in Sept 07. It's increase was 142%. The entire South County had 110 sales in 2007 and 129 in 2006. It would appear that Santa Barbara is still a very desirable place to invest your real estate dollar. See You In Escrow!