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 November 2014. For the Single Family Home market the numbers of sales fell from the previous month to 72 in November dropping from 87 in October and 109 in September. The Median Sales Price also fell for the month to about $947,500 from $985,000 in October and $1,199,000 in September. The opened escrows also fell in November to about 75 from 107 in October and 81 in September, while the median list price on those escrows rose from $949,000 in October to approximately $1,035,000 in November. There were roughly 70 new listings that came on the market in November with a median list price of just about $1.15 million and an average list price of around $1.8 million which left the overall inventory falling from 308 units for sale in October to about 280 in November.
Year over year sales are down about 17% with the median sales price up to about $1,130,000 for approximately a 21% rise. The average sales price is also up going from about $1.43 million in 2013 to approximately $1.73 million in 2014 for also a 21% rise, while the numbers of escrows are down with 1,161 in ’13 to just over 1,000 in ‘14 with the median list price on those escrows up about 20% to approximately $1,150,000.
For the Condo segment of the market sales fell to 37 in November down from 40 in October but up from the 29 we saw in September. The median sales price also rose from $553,750 in October to $735,000 in November, while the numbers of escrows rose from the 36 we saw in October to about 45 in November with the median list price on those escrows rising slightly from $569,000 in October to $572,000 in November.
There were about 45 new condo listings that came on the market for the month with a median list price of about $590,000 rising from $500,000 in October and an average list price of approximately $760,000 equaling the October number, while the overall inventory stayed steady in November from about 105 units for sale in October to 105 in November.
Through the end of November sales of single family homes are down about 17% from ’13 while the median sales price for those homes is up about 21%. For condos, sales are down approximately 5% with the median sales price up over 11%. Of the single family homes that sold for the month roughly 10.4% of those sales were over the asking price and for condos that number was about 14.2%. But, 3 of the 5 over the asking price condo sales were in the Hideaway. The average over asking price for homes that sold over the asking price was about 8.7% but really it was 1 sale, 1520 Santa Rosa Ave, that was listed for $1.1 million and sold for $1.6. For condos the percentage over the asking price was about 8.7% but again most of those were the upgrades in the Hideaway. On the other side of the coin 14 % of the Single Family Home Inventory experienced a price reduction in November while 19% of the condos went down in price.
We usually finish the year with a lot of single family sales and 2014 should be no exception. Also, the median sales price for homes which has declined for the past 4 months should come back up to roughly $1 million finishing the year with about a $1,150,000 annualized median sales price up 20+% over 2013. The condo sales are a little more confusing however with big numbers racked up by the Hideaway and 401 Chapala St, but the overall condo market is soft with prices dropping slightly.
