For Santa Barbara Real Estate’s Montecito Real Estate area the Median Sales price through August 28 continues to zoom upward to $3.6 million on 101 sales. This compares to last year when the median sales price stood at a paltry $2.8 million on 133 sales. This is an interesting dichotomy because the median sales price has risen by 26% while the numbers of sales has fallen by 24%. Throughout the year as the numbers of sales has steadily declined the median sale price has continued to climb substantially. My only conclusion is that not all parts of Montecito are in the ultra exclusive sections but everybody that wants to sell in Montecito wants to take advantage of the prices those upper end properties are commanding.
The gap report for Montecito shows us that currently there is only a 4.6% difference between the median list price and the median sales price. This compares to last year when the gap was about 18%. The large fly in the ointment of course is the numbers of sales has declined markedly which is not reflected in the gap numbers. That miniscule 4.6% gap is only meaningful for the houses that have sold.
For the condo market in Montecito Real Estate it’s been a tough year sales wise but the median sales figures don’t reflect that downturn. This year the median sales price is $1,381,500 on only 13 sales but last year it was only slightly higher at $1,475,000 on 19 sales. This 6.3% decline in the median sales price is overshadowed by the 31% drop in the numbers of units sold.
When we get down to the gap report for Montecito condos things really get turned upside down. This year the median list price is $1.78 million compared to the median $1.38 million sales price which is a 22% gap. Last year the median list price was $1.275 but the median sales price was $1.475 or a minus 15% gap. Yes, this time last year the median list price was actually significantly below the median sales price which is the reason we had many more sales the current 13 for all of 2008.