Current housing supply in Santa Barbara

Available homes and condos for sale in the Santa Barbara area has risen substantially this year with a 33% increase over the same time last year. The last time the housing supply in Santa Barbara was this high was in 2011. The big difference between now and 2011 is the “months supply of inventory” or how long it would take the available inventory of properties to sell at the given pace of sales. You can easily calculate this by taking the number of properties on the market and dividing by the number of sales over the previous month. In 2011 there were 779 homes and condos on the market and 120 sales from August to September, which calculates to a 6.5 months supply of inventory. This year there are 662 homes and condos on the market with 274 sales over the past month, which calculates to a much lower 2.4 months supply of inventory.

The healthy amount of inventory is certainly nice for buyers and the healthy number of sales for sellers. Purely by the current numbers one can confidently say that it’s a good time to buy or sell. It’s not often with the continual high demand and low supply of housing in the Santa Barbara area that you see such a balance. I appreciate any feedback or inquires you have and thank you for allowing me to assist with any of your current real estate needs whether you’re looking to buy or sell.