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 March 2015. For the Single Family Home market sales went way up for the month with about 117 closings from the 58 we saw in February. The Median Sales Price also rose to about $1.2 million up from $1,035,000 at the end of February, while the days on the market for sold properties went down to around 54 from the 71 we saw in the previous month. The opened escrows stayed at about the same level from 121 in February to about 118 in March. The median list price on those escrows went up however to about $1.249 million from $1,050,000 in February. There were approximately 160 new listings that came on the market in March with a median list price of roughly $1.45 million, with the overall inventory rising from about 260 units for sale at the end of February to around 280 at the end of March.
Year over year sales are up about 22% with the median sales price up to roughly $1.15 million for a 12% rise. The numbers of escrows are up about 29% with the median list price on those escrows up over 11% to $1,175,000.
For the Condo segment of the market sales went way up to 56 in March from 27 in February. The median sales price also went up from $542,500 to $587,000 and the numbers of escrows went up from 38 to 68, with the median list price on those escrows rising from $542,000 to about $559,500.
There were about 45 new condo listings that came on the market for the month with a median list price of about $599,000. But, unlike the Single Family Home market the overall inventory fell from just about 86 to roughly 65.
Through the end of the 1st quarter both sales for the Single Family Home and Condo markets are up compared to 2014 and prices are also up. Approximately 12.8% of the home sales went for over the asking price in March with about 13.4% of the condos. For Homes the percentage of the sales price over the asking price was about 3.1% while for condos it was about 1.7%. On the other side of the coin 23% of the Homes had a price reduction and 36% of the condos went down in price.
Escrows are up for both single family homes and condos, but the second quarter based on escrows looks like it’s stabilizing for homes and based on the inventory perhaps even falling for condos. The median sales price for homes has risen to roughly $1.1 million while the median sales price for condos is up to around $570,000. Listings are still the key for a successful 2015. In March the inventory for single family homes rose about 9% to roughly 285 properties for sale, while it went down about 20% for condos to approximately 65 units. 2015 has started out strong for sales of homes and condos with the median sales price rising for both segments.
