Montecito

Here is a market update for Santa Barbara, Montecito and South Santa Barbara county.

For the month of January, in South Santa Barbara County, there were about 60 sales. Last year, for January 2009, there were only 44 sales, so our numbers are up. (December we posted 95 sales – end of year activity, no doubt.) In the $1M to $2MM category, there were 27 sales in December 2009 but only 7 in January of 2010. I believe this is a result of lack of inventory in this price range.

Below $1M, or entry level in South Santa Barbara County, there were 50 sales in December 2009, but only 44 in January 2010. Above $2MM, there were 11 sales in December 2009 and only 7 sales in January 2010. Our median sales price for single family residences, excluding Hope Ranch and Montecito (our high end market) went down to about $750,000. For the last several months it has been yo-yoiing up and down between $750,000 and $925,000. The sales price to list price ratio is now about 75% for the month of January. I believe this could be due to the number of REO and short sale listings closing. The good news is that there were over 50 escrows opened in the month of January, with the median listing price around $825,000. Let’s see if the ratio goes from 75% to a higher value.

In Montecito, there are 7 sales so far, with a median sales price of $3.3MM.

On the East side of Santa Barbara there were 20 sales, an increase of 100% over last January, with a lower median sales price of $839,000.

On the West side of Santa Barbara, there were 8 sales, a drop of just a few from last year at this time. the median price was $727,500. In Hope Ranch, only two sales so far this year, after a busy 2009. The median price in January was $3.6MM.

Entry level Goleta has 8 sales this January, with a median of $550,000, down from a high of $790,000 last January. This is due to the many REO and short sale properties offered in this distressed area.

Condo Market update: We are up to 20 sales in January, better than 12 in January of 2009. However, the median sales price is lower this year: $375,000. Again, lack of proper inventory of “Normal sales” and too many REO and short sale properties on the market.

For more information, please contact me. I’m just a click away!

Kathleen Barnato, CRS

k@kathleenbarnato.com

www.kathleenbarnato.com

1170 Coast Village Road, Montecito, CA 93108

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Kathleen Barnato CRS

Homes, condos, estates, beachfront sales – Certified Residential Specialist

365 Things to Do in South Santa Barbara County/Montecito, California

Posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 7:08 pm and is filed under Homes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.