This is an analysis of the Santa Barbara Real Estate market including Carpinteria, Summerland, Montecito, Santa Barbara and Goleta through the month of November 2012.
For the Home Estate market sales dropped from October when there were 108 to about 100 for November. The Median sales price slid a bit from $803,500 in the previous month to approximately $790,000. What went up were the days on the market for properties that sold which went from 57 in October to the mid-80s in November.
Of the approximately 100 sales roughly two thirds were below $1 million with about half of those below $1 million sales coming in between $600,000 to $750,000. The remaining 30 sales were divided equally between the $1 to $2 million bracket and the over $2 million range. Of sales above $2 million; there were 6 above $5 million with the highest sale topping out at $12.5 million.
Year over year, the numbers of sales are still way up with about 1,150 transactions completed compared to 852 last year. The median sales price is basically unchanged, down a little from $793,750 in 2011 to about $790,000 now. The escrows are also up; from 852 last year to about 1,230 this year while the median list price on those escrows has risen a from about $805,000 last year to approximately $830,000 now.
For the Condo segment of the market sales fell to the mid-30s in November from 46 in October while the median sales price continued to rise; from $475,000 the previous month up to about $490,000. Unlike home sales the days on the market continued to stay low falling from 39 in October to about 30 in November.
Of the approximately 35 condo sales in the month half of those were between $300,000 to $500,000, but there were 4 sales over $1 million, with the top sale coming in at $4.65 million and the least expensive property selling for $215,000.
Year over year condo sales are up from 273 in 2011 to about 400 in 2012. But, the median sales price on those properties is down from about $420,000 last year to $410,000. With the condo inventory low at around 65 units the median sales price should continue to go up and it will definitely spike when the bulk of the Bella Riviera properties start to come in.
In November both single family home and condo sales fell from the previous month with the median sales price on homes going down but the median sales price on condos rising. Days on market for single family dwellings spiked in November indicating that there were a substantial number of short sales in the mix, days on the market for condos continued to drop. December sales for both condos and single family homes should be strong however as everybody tries to get sales closed by the end of the year. But, home prices should remain about where they’ve been while condo prices will probably rise.
