January 2020 Santa Barbara Real Estate Market

Spring is in the air in beautiful Santa Barbara, and the real estate market is heating up. The residential real estate market, like any other market, is determined by supply and demand. This means we need to look at how many potential buyers are in the market versus the number of homes for sale. With early 2020 housing data now rolling in, it’s quite evident there are two big stories impacting this year’s residential real estate market. (1) Buyer demand is already extremely strong, and (2) Housing supply is at a remarkably low level.

Homebuyers were taking advantage of low mortgage rates and stable listing prices to drive sales higher at the end of 2019, further depleting the already limited inventory of homes for sale. Consequently, we’ve seen a 11% annual decrease in homes for sale, and an astounding 38% annual decrease in condos for sale in January alone! Particularly noteworthy is the fact that more homes sold in January than ANY year in the last 15 years with the exception of 2013, which was a banner year for Santa Barbara. To further highlight this point, SIX of our listings have attracted multiple offers since the new year!

So what does this mean for you? Since there’s a relative shortage of homes for sale, putting your home on the market today could drive an excellent price and give you additional negotiating leverage when selling your house. Reach out to a Zia Group agent today to see if listing your house now is your best move.