2021 Real Estate Market Report for South County Santa Barbara
Welcome to Zia Group's annual real estate report for the year of 2021. In 2021, the Santa Barbara real estate market continued to break historical records, and set new milestones. In this report, we'll look at annual home price trends, sales volume, and we'll examine how home sales differed by neighborhood. Enjoy this annual market report courtesy of Zia Group.

Annual Santa Barbara Home Price Trend
Santa Barbara homes continued their meteoric rise in value during 2021. When averaged across all 12 months of 2021, the mean average home value in Santa Barbara topped $2.4M for the first time in history. Equally as astounding, median home values rose to $1.5M. In terms of annual percent gain, average home values appreciated by 24%.
Annual Santa Barbara Home Sales Volume Trend
Another historic record for Santa Barbara real estate was set via annual sales volume. Annual sales volume reports on the total sum of homes sold, including single family homes and condos. A staggering 2,216 homes were sold in 2021, the most homes sold in Santa Barbara in history. This metric can be attributed to the large number of families moving as they adapt to lifestyle changes initiated by the pandemic and remote work.
Annual Santa Barbara home sales by month
Real estate tends to follow predictable seasonality, with Summer experiencing more sales, and Winter experiencing fewer sales. However, the lockdown in 2020 broke the mold in terms of monthly distribution of sales activity. Throughout 2021 we slowly began to see a semblance of normalcy in monthly sales distribution and seasonality.
Annual Santa Barbara home sales by area
The annual "sales by area" chart illustrates how sales are distributed throughout Santa Barbara. The most notable change we've seen in this data has been the increase in sales from Montecito. In 2019, Montecito had only 221 sales. In 2020, this number jumped to 374. In 2021, Montecito saw continued sales growth at 383 sales.
2021
2020
Average Santa Barbara home prices by area
Santa Barbara home prices continued to skyrocket in 2021. Montecito and Hope Ranch finished the year with an average home selling price of $6,265,675 and $5,846,738 respectively. Limited inventory and ever-increasing celebrity appeal may push prices even higher still.
2021 Luxury Real Estate Market Report for Montecito & Hope Ranch
Welcome to Zia Group's annual luxury report for the year of 2021. In 2021, the luxury market has enjoyed astronomical growth. In this report, we'll explore annual home price trends, monthly trends, sales volume, and more. Enjoy this report courtesy of Zia Group.

Yearly median home prices for Montecito & Hope Ranch
Median sales prices are at all-time highs in Montecito and Hope Ranch. Hope Ranch has maintained the top spot with a median home selling price of 4,750,000. Montecito is not far behind with the median price of $4,150,000.
Yearly home sales for Montecito & Hope Ranch
As discussed above, Montecito experienced a dramatic increase in sales between 2019 and 2020. In 2021, another 383 Montecito homes changed hands. Hope Ranch also experienced greater sales volume at 65 sales, up from 45 in 2020.
Monthly home sales for Montecito & Hope Ranch
Despite the fact that annual home sales have grown, as shown above, monthly sales have been shrinking since March. This monthly decline is due to inventory drying up in the market, not a lack of buyers. For this reason, home prices have continued to rise.
Median price trend by month for Montecito & Hope Ranch
Here we look at how home prices oscillate from month to month throughout the year. At first blush, it could appear as though Hope Ranch has wild price swings. However, this is not the case. Because Hope Ranch is such a small collection of homes, any one or two large sales can dramatically impact the average price that month. In general, we find Montecito and Hope Ranch to both maintain relatively consistent home values year round.
Home sales by area for Montecito & Hope Ranch
As we compare Montecito and Hope Ranch home sales, we see that Montecito claims the lion's share of sales. In 2021, Montecito had 383 sales, which accounted for 85% of sales across Montecito and Hope Ranch. In contrast, Hope Ranch had 65 sales, accounting for 15% of ultra-luxury territory.