This is an analysis of the Santa Barbara Real Estate market including Carpinteria/Summerland, Montecito, Hope Ranch, downtown Santa Barbara and Goleta through the month of February 2012. Sales for the month lagged slightly from January but the numbers of escrows remained strong with over 100. This marks the third month in a row where escrows have been slightly below or slightly above 100.
The median sales price for the month declined however dropping below $700,000 to $677,500 from $810,000 in January and the days on the market for the sold properties also declined to the low 70s from the low 80s in January.
With escrows remaining strong and the days on the market coming down, single family home sales will remain robust through the first quarter and on into the second quarter. Even more encouraging news is that it looks like the decline in the median sales price may be evening out despite the significant fall in February. Both January and February had a median list price for homes entering escrow in the $780,000 range up from roughly $690,000 in December.
Comparing the first 2 months of 2011 with the same period in 2012 we see sales up from the low 90s last year to the high-130 range this year. But, the median sales price has declined from about $830,000 last year to around $760,000 this year. The escrows are also up from about 125 in ’11 to over 200 in ’12 but the median list price on those escrows is down from approximately $850,000 last year to about $780,000 this year.
For the Condo segment of the market sales rose from January when there were 13 to about 17 in February but the median sales price remained at approximately $365,000. The numbers of escrows jumped significantly however going from 30 in January to 43 in February and the median list price on those escrows also went up from $365,500 to approximately $430,000. What also rose for the month were the days on the market of sold properties which about tripled from 35 in January to about 105 in February.
Comparing February 2011 with February 2012, sales are basically equal rising from 16 to 17 but the median sales price has dropped from $422,500 to about $365,000. Escrows are up about 70% however with the median list price on those escrows also up from $407,375 to roughly $420,000. With year over year sales down about 6% from 2011 the median sales price has also declined about 11%. But, escrows are way up with the median list price on those escrows basically unchanged.
Both the Home Estate and Condo markets look strong ending the first quarter and going into the second quarter. Also, the median sales price decline for homes seems to have stabilized and there may even be a slight rise in the price of condos. Home sales in the $1 to $2 million range have slowed however and above $2 million there is not a lot of activity. But, there are some higher priced homes and condos in escrow currently so this picture will change shortly.
