Back to 2002 ’s median price for a home, today!

Over all,  Santa Barbara area has fared well,  compared to the nation and the rest of the state of California.  Leslie Appleton Young, the Chief Economist for the California Association of Realtors, reports the loss of property value in the state as 31% while in the past year our area has softened only 16%.  Primarily this is due to our limited supply  of homes and our high demand  by buyers, even in a tough economic times.  Our area did not see many sub-prime loans made, leaving us in a stronger  position  today.

Looking back a year ago, in 2007,  when our high end was more active than it is today our median sold price was $845,000 and our average sold price was $1,349,362.  Compared to 2008 with most of our activity in the lower end of our market, it just makes sense that our median sold price would go to $750,000.  However, we are seeing our average sold price rise to $1,443,252 with properties staying on the market an average of 15 days longer than last year.  So, where is our bad news?  We are in an area that is located outside the 20% of zip codes that are in trouble in the State of California.  The fringe properties like Stockton, Riverside and Modesto are the forerunners of the troubled areas.  North County, Santa Maria area, is reporting increased sales activity by 50% in the past four months , and Santa Barbara area, in the past 30 days has doubled sales volume to four homes a day.  This is up from two a day earlier in the year. What’s so bad about that?
 
Since the media’s motto is, “if it bleeds it leads,”  we are not likely to hear the good news about the real estate recovery for a long time.  It will have to be on  - room sized -  screen before they even acknowledge it and then it will be too late for buyers to take advantage of  the  great values we have to offer today. 
 
The bottom line is Santa Barbara area is doing fine, average sales prices are up, while the median is down.  The low end is active, representing our working people who need to live where they work.  And the good news is that they are beginning to find homes that fit their needs and their  pocketbooks.

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