May 2020 Santa Barbara Real Estate Market

Welcome to our Santa Barbara real estate update for May 2020. As you may know, our monthly reports include year-over-year changes. In these unprecedented times, we are actually more interested in monthly and weekly trends as they provide greater context into our current environment.

As we look at weekly trends, we are seeing a sharp increase in new weekly inventory as of this writing. This week alone, we saw 65 new listings enter the market! That number is almost identical to this same week last year. This likely points to a growing optimism in the Santa Barbara real estate market.

This is also 20 listings more than last week, so we are pleased to see the market improve on a granular basis. While these trends are great to see, they are in fact what we would typically expect during the late Spring and early Summer season. In either case, we are happy to see signs of good health in our market.

We are also beginning to see sellers engage in price reductions. While this may seem like bad news, it is actually a sign that the “shock” of the pandemic may be wearing off. During a shock, sellers can become paralyzed by fear. As the shock passes, sellers begin to accept the new environment and proceed with their sale.

As we compare Santa Barbara to markets across the U.S. and Canada, we find that our local real estate market is exceptionally resilient. Ultimately, we are feeling positive about where the Santa Barbara real estate market is headed.

The market is changing on a daily basis. If you are wondering how this market may impact your family, please reach out to a Zia Group agent today.