Santa Barbara Area Real Estate Statistics December 2018

Another big thanks to Fidelity National Title for putting together these reports! I like using these because Fidelity tracks all sales, not just sales in the Santa Barbara Multiple Listing Service (MLS). Last month, November 2018, we had 28 Non-MLS sales out of a total of 124 sales. Note that 11 of these sales are new construction sales in Goleta being reported by the builder that didn't hit MLS . . . Taking these out of the equation, puts us around 14% of November 2018 sales are outside the traditional MLS.

So what's the latest with cash buyers in the Santa Barbara Area Real Estate Market? Out of the 124 sales in November, 19% were all cash! Seems we’ve been averaging about 20% of our monthly sales are ALL CASH, so this is about par for the course. Bottom line, we are seeing lots of cash at all price points in the market - it’s not just the high end.

Our year-to-date median sales price for single family homes (January - November) comes in at $1,200,000, which is off .3% from the same period last year. Additionally, we see our total sales are off about 7% from the same year-to-date period compared to last year. Our condo sales numbers are up 13% from the same period last year, and median price is up 8%. This can be attributed to the handful of condo projects now being sold in Goleta. These median prices are approaching the high’s we saw during the 2005 - 2007 market.

Looking at only November 2018 to November 2017, our sales numbers are down about 15% and median sales price down about 5%.

As far as month’s supply of inventory, we are seeing this skew to a more balanced market. Currently we are seeing approximately 4.6 months of inventory for homes and condos. These numbers are up from last years numbers of 3.7 months of inventory for homes, and 2.2 months for condos. Generally speaking, less than 3 months of inventory is considered a seller’s market, 3-6 months a balanced market, and 6-9 months a buyer’s market.

What does next the year hold for the Santa Barbara housing market? Rate increases are likely contributing to a flattening of our median sales prices, as rates are now at the highest level since 2011, but still considered historically low by comparison. We will also see more inventory from a cyclical standpoint, as well as seller’s may want to realize gains as prices begin to plateau. All in all, we are in a healthier market that is responding to market forces.

Check out the graphs and charts below for more information.

As always, please Contact Me with any questions or feedback!