The Santa Barbara Groups Real Estate Blog

What’s happening in the real estate market? This is a question with multiple answers that are always changing, and here in Santa Barbara, it is a very dynamic question that covers may sectors. There is a red hot sector that continues to thrive, and there is a rather cold sector that has almost gone non-existent. Then there is everything in-between.

The red hot market – no big surprise – is the low end. If you have a home under $600,000 in Goleta there are a lot of buyers out there who want to buy it. Low interest rates and fresh FHA loans are driving multiple offers, even over the asking sales prices. Until recently, this has killed the condo market because most buyers will choose to buy a home over a condo if the prices are similar, and they have been. Condos have come down in price and are now showing sings of increased activity from buyers.

On the other hand the sector above $2,000,000 has experienced very sluggish activity. Once the resilient sector that hardly noticed the down turn that started in early 2006, it continued to rise uncheck. Now it has all but put on the breaks causing the median price to fall from $1,170,000 in April of ’08 to $840,000 in April of ’09. Inventory in this sector is up 30 - 40 percent. The super high end sector completely turned off for about six months, but in the past month there have been several closings over $5M. Most appear to be quick cash deals where the sellers lower their price and lets the property go at a discount.

As always price is everything. Sellers who are still out of touch – and there are a lot of them – continue to offer their homes at prices that are completely unrealistic. The only way to sell a home today is to price it right. Buyers are on it when it comes to recognizing value, and are quick to weed out the dreamers.