The Santa Cruz Summer Market
Here we are in full swing - Summer at it’s finest. What a great year we
are having.
The real estate market in Santa Cruz continues to be driven primarily
by the second home market. People from over the hill, as well as
Fresno, Modesto, Turlock, Sacramento etc (all approximately a 3 hour or
less drive to the beach), are still wanting to purchase vacation homes.
We are really fortunate that we have the beach to keep our market
active.
Statistics are so interesting and you can see the last two years of
sales information on the back of my newsletter. As of the first week in
June, there are 1236 listings, the most in 10 years for this time of
year. There were 166 single family home sales in June, the fewest sales
for June in 6 years. The average price was up from last month to
$889,656 but the median price went down to $761,000 from $784,500.
Compared to last year in June, the median price is within $1000. The
"Unsold Inventory Index" is an important predictor of future price
movement. It is the inventory of properties expressed in time, or the
current relationship between supply and demand. For example, if there
is a 6 - 8 month supply of houses on the market, prices are stable. If
there is only a 4 month supply, prices usually increase. If there is a
10 month supply, prices usually decrease. The Unsold Inventory Index in
June was 8.4 months, a little higher than the upper limit of the
"normal" range.
What do all the statistics mean? It means that our market is stable
even though the number of sales are down the average and the median
prices are not dropping. I personally am having a great year and I am
as busy as I have been in a few years. I think 2007 will end up being a
strong year in real estate. Of course it depends on who you talk to and
what you read in the news.
Call me if you would like to talk about the market or have any questions
at 831.662.6522 or e mail me at lauren@laurenspencer.com