Montecito Real Estate from 2000 to 2005 for the first 10 months of each year

There's been a lot written and said about how the numbers of Montecito Real Estate sales are off when you compare them to 2004. Since it's always a good idea to stand back and get a little perspective to see where we've been I thought I'd go back to 2000 and look at each subsequent year to today.

Okay, so looking at Montecito Real Estate for 2000 from Jan. 1 through October 31 we see 196 sales with a median price of $1.54 million. The number of listings for the same time period was 282 with a median list price of $1.745. This means that the median sales price was about $200,000 below that of the median list price.

For 2001 for the same time period sales were slightly slower with 145 properties closing escrow from 1/1 to 10/31. The median sales price was up ever so slightly to $1.565 million. The number of homes that came on the market for that time period was 335 with a median list price of $2.08. this means that the expectations of the sellers in 2001 increased but buyers restrained that enthusiasm keeping the selling prices almost flat from '00 to '01.

So what happened in 2002 as far as sales were concerned? From 1/1 to 10/31 there were 183 houses that closed escrow. The median sales price at that time stayed pretty close to the 2001 level coming in at $1.72 million. The number of listings was 328 year to date for 2002 with a median list price of $2.25 million. That means from 2001 to 2002 sales and prices were increasing marginally.

In Montecito Real Estate for 2003 the number of sales dipped slightly to 166 while the median sales price rose again to $1.92 million. The numbers of listings for that time period were up slightly at 339 and the median list price was about where it was in 2002 with a slight rise to $2.61 million.

Moving into 2004 what happened? Well in 2004 at that time we had 175 sales with a median sales price of $2.39 million. So sales inched up from the previous year but the sales price moved up dramatically. On the listing side 312 properties came on the market and the median asking price zoomed up to $2.92 million. So both the sales and particularly the listing prices moved up.

Now in 2005 where are we with Montecito Real Estate? Well sales are up by 4 from 2004 for a total of 179 and the median sales price is only slightly ahead at $2.58. The numbers of listings are off to 43 for a total of 269 and the median list price is up to $3.1.

So looking back from 2000 to 2005 we had 196, 145, 183, 166 and 175 sales respectively. This is really a pretty remarkable example of stability. The median sales price from 2000 to 2005 went, $1.54, $1.565, $1.72, $2.39 to $2.58 with the big jump coming between '03 and '04.

So as far as Montecito Real Estate is concerned the figures look pretty stable to me, and I certainly don't see a bubble there.

Well that's it for Montecito Real Estate for now!!!

About the author:

Gary Woods is a Realtor in Santa Barbara CA and he is the Trainer for the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors. He can be heard on Radio 1290 AM in Santa Barbara from 9-10AM Monday