November 2020 | Santa Barbara Real Estate

November 2020 | Santa Barbara Real Estate

  • Kirk Hodson
  • 12/2/20
My former roomate and brother from a different Mother floating in the skies over Santa Barbara.  Up, up, and away... starting to feel like real estate pricing here. 
 
Real Estate
Fall 2020 Insights
 
Fall is in the air and on the ground - in Santa Barbara leaves begin to fall in October - but continue falling for months. However, there is no falling in real estate pricing.  The price trajectory this Fall has been all up and ascending at a rapid pace. 
 
Credit: Jon Messer
 
October 2020 
Total South County Sales
 
Once again sales were dramatically up year over year.  We are on a pace that's unsustainable but the enthusiasm to buy is not waning. Interest rates continue at all time lows.
 
It's a great time to sell if you know where you want to go or what you want to do next. With the shortage of inventory, it's not uncommon to see multiple offers on properties.
____________________________
 
Total October Sales: 267 Homes & Condos
 
October 2019: 155 Sales
Up 72% Year Over Year
 
Single Family Median Sale Price: $1,750,000
 
Condominium Median Sale Price: $786,000
17% of the Sales were Off-market
 
25% were All-Cash
*Average 30-Year Fixed Rate Mortgage as of 12/17/2020: 2.79% 
 
The Luxury Market
 
Montecito and Hope Ranch markets continue very strong - simply not enough inventory to satisfy all the Buyers looking.

October 2020:
Montecito sold 54 properties.
 
Hope Ranch reported 6 sales.
15 of those sales were in excess of $5M.
 
Montecito experienced it's highest sale ever: 
2500 E. Valley Rd.
237 Acres
$63,250,000
 

Most Expensive Sale: 

 

2500 E. Valley Rd. 

 

 

All Cash: $63,250,000

State Street in the News
 
The State Street of Tomorrow
 
Perhaps it will change...I've always had a fond place in my memory for things "the way they used to be."  I miss the State Street of 1985 when I first visited Santa Barbara - diagonal parking in front of Woolworths, Lerner's, and countless others.  I miss rotary dial phones, clicking the channel changer on the TV to check all 3 channels, and the quiet life before the invention of the "smart" phone. 
But, change happens...
 
Read more about these potential plans here.
 
November 2020 
Total South County Sales
 
No significant slowing in November. Sales were up 65% for the month vs. 2019  Available inventory is down to less than two months.  We are turning inventory at a breakneck speed.  
 
I submitted an offer for two different clients on the same home this week - there were 23 offers in total. They countered the nine best and are under contract in excess of 20% over the list price.  Demand vs. Supply.
 
For the past four months we have averaged 243 sales per month. In four months we've sold more homes than in any six month period last year.  Prices are leapfrogging higher. The median sales price is up 18% for the year - combining single family homes and condos, the median sales price for all of South County Santa Barbara now sits at $1,200,000.
 
North County Santa Barbara YTD 2020
 
North County is experiencing similar activity.  Although it is a much smaller market, it has seen significant price increases this year as well.  An abundance of active buyers but very little available inventory.  With November's results North County has only two months of inventory supply, and the median sales price for a single family home is up 23% this year.  Where do we go from here?!
 
2020 will soon be be a distant memory...
 
The more I know the less I know.  It has proven to be one remarkable and very peculiar year - much of which most of us hope to put behind us ASAP.  My kids and my wife have been known to utter out loud, it sort of feels like a lost year. 
 
We did recently experience the Covid virus firsthand - four out of the five of us contracted it, and everyone is now out the other side. We are survivors!
 
Here's hoping 2021 is better physically, emotionally, and psychologically for all of us! 
 
From my home to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holi-days!
 
~ Kirk
 

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