Third Quarter, 2005
Statistics for the first six months of 2005 continue to show a strong real estate market for the Santa Barbara area. Despite a decline in the number of sales, both average and median prices rose for each community along the South Coast. The median price increased 16% to $1,005,000 and the average price increased 25% to $1,594,590 (a new record). The number of sales over $1 million increase a dramatic 93% to 599 (another record).
For Montecito, while the number of sales declined slightly (161 compared to 170), the median price increased 19% to $2,224,000 and the average price increased 16% to $3,183,233.
Recent newspaper articles have indicated that inventory levels of homes offered for sale are increasing in the Santa Barbara area MLS. However, this is true only because of the increase in the practice of placing properties that are actually not in our area (Santa Maria, Lompoc, Ojai, Ventura, Camarillo, Oxnard, etc) into our MLS. For properties actually in the Santa Barbara area, inventory levels are relatively unchanged compared to last year. While there has always been a section of the Santa Barbara MLS reserved for such “out of area” properties, the number of submissions has increased dramatically.
For the first half of 2005 the number of “out of area” listings included in the Santa Barbara MLS increased 78% (495 in 2005 compared to 278 in 2004) and “out of state” listings increased 142% from 7 to 17. San Ynez has its own section within the Santa Barbara MLS and the number of listings in this category rose 30% (from 156 to 203). The reason for this is simple– many local Buyers are drawn to the affordability of these outlying communities leading to many local agents expanding the geographic areas that they will show property in.
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