Looking at the Home Estate/PUD market for the greater Santa Barbara area from Carpinteria to Goleta including Montecito and Hope Ranch for the first 6 months of ’08 we see that compared to ’07 the numbers of sales are down about 24% and the median sales prices are off about 9% but this doesn’t really give a good picture of what is happening in the various districts for the area. To give you a better of idea of what’s occurring I’ll go district by district and extract the details.
Starting in the Carpinteria Real Estate/Summerland Real Estate area we see that sales are down about 20% but the Home Estate median sales prices has fallen about 36%. The difficulty with looking at Carpinteria/Summerland is that the prices vary so widely from the beach where the numbers are in the stratosphere to the more modest tract homes on the north side of the freeway.
Moving over to Montecito Real Estate the numbers of sales are down slightly farther at about 22% but both the median and average sales prices are up substantially. The median sales price numbers are up about 20% and the average sales prices have risen around 22%.
On the East Side of Santa Barbara Real Estate the numbers of sales has fallen about 40% when compared to ’07 but the median sales price has come down only about 1%. Clearly the folks on the East Side are going to get what they want for their homes or they’re not going to sell.
On the West Side of Santa Barbara the sales drop off is not nearly as significant as on the East Side but it is still a noteworthy 27% decline. Despite the sales numbers decline the decline in the median sales price is only about 1% just like the East Side.
For Hope Ranch Real Estate the fall in the number of sales is even more dramatic than what has been happening on the East Side. Sales are down about 47% for the year but unlike the East Side we’ve also seen an almost 25% drop in the median sales figures. The thing to remember about this drop is that we’re only talking about 9 sales so far in ’08 and there were some very large sales in the first half of ’07.
Out in the Goleta Real Estate South area the numbers of sales is exactly where it was at this time last year. Unlike the rest of the area Goleta South has experienced no drop off in activity but what has gone down is the median sales price which has fallen by over 15%.
Finishing up in Goleta North the sales have fallen by only a little over 7% but the median sales price has come down by 15%.
To summarize, the downtown area of Santa Barbara has seen the numbers of sales drop rather dramatically but the median sales price has remained stable. In Goleta the sales have stayed almost exactly where they were last year but the prices have fallen by double digits. Then there’s the anomaly of Montecito which has seen a decline in the numbers of sales but the prices have surged upward. And finally both Carpinteria/Summerland and Hope Ranch have seen a substantial decline in both the numbers of sales and the median sales price.
For the Condo market in the Santa Barbara area the picture is a lot rougher. Overall the numbers of sales are down by about 40% but the median sales price has declined only about 6.5%, but let’s see what the individual numbers look like.
For Carpinteria/Summerland the numbers of sales is off by about 40%, but the median sales price has declined about 16.5%. So, even though the condo sellers in Carpinteria/Summerland have compromised their price the buyers have not responded.
In Montecito the sales are down an even larger 50% but the median sales price has continued to rise by 16%. Again we see the anomaly of Montecito which seemingly defies gravity with the sales falling but prices rising.
On the East Side of Santa Barbara it’s been a particularly rough year for condos. The numbers of sales is down by a whopping 56% but the median sales price unlike the Home Estate market has also declined by 14%.
One the West Side the sales are down by a more modest 26% but the median sales price is down by only a little over 1%. There has been significant activity in the upper end on the West Side so this has tilted the median sales figures. The trend will probably continue because 35 new upper end condos have just come on the market.
For Goleta South unlike with Home Estates the numbers of sales has fallen by 22%. This number while better than the other districts is still not trivial but the amazing number is the median sales price which has risen almost 18%.
Finishing up in Goleta North sales have fallen by about 33% while the median sales price numbers have fallen by about 9%.
The results for Condos are all over the map. Carpinteria/Summerland has both sales and median sales prices dropping significantly while Montecito sales have declined precipitously but the prices continue to climb. On the East Side sales are way down but the prices have come down also. On the West Side sales are not off as badly as on the East but prices have basically remained stable. For Goleta South just like with Montecito the numbers of sales has dropped but the prices have risen and for Goleta North sales are down but the prices have come down only about 9%.
For the Home Estate market sales are down for the area, but we’re certainly not suffering as much as many areas of the state and country. For condos it’s been a particularly rough year but certain areas have been able to maintain prices and even move forward.