December 2, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We were very blessed here in Santa Cruz to have had a beautiful day with warm weather and gorgeous seas. I took some pictures using my new Flip camcorder and sent them to my family in Utah (to rub it in a little).
November’s numbers came in as expected, below what they were last year in number of transactions and average selling price. In fact, the downward spiral in depreciation is now over <21.0%>.
I spoke with a former client of mine to let him know what a great buying opportunity there was in the market. He agreed and actually told a friend of his who is looking to buy close to Pleasure Point. The surf in that area is some of the best in our county. I am not a surfer, but that is what I am told.
Here is a graph of just what the last 11 months looks like.
2008 Depreciation in Santa Cruz County as compared to the end of 2007
Posted in Housing Market Updates, Santa Cruz Real Estate Stats | Tagged market, stats, surf, weather | No Comments »
November 24, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
You may have already realized by now, that I love running stats and am fanatical about it. I have been tracking our Santa Cruz real estate market since April of 2005. Not sure why I started doing it, possibly because it helped me determine a true market value for my sellers. It also gave me an overview of what was happening where in our County. Since then I have been writing a monthly enewsletter, which many of you receive.
This week when gathering the numbers for our team meeting on Tuesday, I discovered that for the past 8 weeks the most pending sales recorded were in the $400-$500,000 price range. But this week it dropped to between $300-$400,000. Maybe not surprising to you, given the state of the economy.
In addition, the over $1M price range has continued to lead the way for existing active listings. In fact since the week ending April 6th, no other price range has had more active listings in our County. At one point in August, the over $1M priced homes amounted to over 28% of all actives. This week the percentage has dropped to 24.6%.
One other stat that you might find interesting is the median price. At the end of October our MLS showed it at $490,000 county wide. But when you exclude sales in Watsonville and the San Lorenzo Valley it is closer to $650,000. Obviously a sign of the amount of foreclosures in South County and the outlying areas.
Posted in Home Sellers, Housing Market Updates, Santa Cruz Real Estate Stats | Tagged market stats | 1 Comment »
November 11, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
Sales of existing homes fell slightly in October, as prices continue to drop. October sales volume was down 9.97% from September making this the lowest month since March of this year followed by January of 2003.
Though the numbers were encouraging, they do not yet suggest the problems in the housing market are behind us. October’s numbers represent contracts signed in August or September - before the October credit crunch tightened the stranglehold on lending and sent confidence in the economy crashing.
Finally, experts say that foreclosed properties are driving this sales jump. Compared to a fairly small share of foreclosures or short sales a year ago, distressed sales are currently 35% to 40% of transactions. These are pulling the median price down because many are being sold at discounted prices.
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October Statistical Highlights for Single Family Homes
* Inventory decreased 5.86% from Sept, and down 3.48% from Oct ‘07
* Sales declined from Sept, but increased 20.4% compared to Oct ‘07
* Days on the market stayed the same at 99, prior year 106
* Median price increased to $649,500 from Sept but has declined <19.7%> from Oct ‘07
* Sales price vs.listing price ratio was stable at 95.78%
* 8.4 mo’s of inventory available at the end of Oct as compared to 10.9% in Oct ‘07
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(These statistics are believed to be accurate but not guaranteed)
Posted in Santa Cruz Real Estate Stats | Tagged foreclosed, lending, sales | 1 Comment »
November 11, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
Continued good news for our market, even considering the upheaval created by the Fed in October.
The volume of sales increased 25.7% over this same time last year. Inventory continues to decrease with many sellers deciding to withdraw or cancel their properties from the market.
Single family homes priced under $500,000 amounted to over 50% of the sales in our County this month, up from only 14.8% in October 2007. A true indication of what is happening.
This continues to be the right time for buying! With prices beyond what has ever been recorded, this could be your chance to jump in and pick up a real bargain.
Posted in Santa Cruz Real Estate Stats | Tagged buying, inventory, sellers | No Comments »
November 1, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
The news this morning!
The Fed lowered the Fed Funds Rate to 1% this week. Since Prime Rate is always 3% over the Fed rate, Prime is now at 4%!
However, contrary to popular belief, the 30 year fixed rate often moves opposite to the Fed Funds Rate. That and the upward movement in stocks has caused rates to climb this week.
Provided as a courtesy by:
Peter Boutell, Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist
Peter@SantaCruzHomeFinance.com
Posted in Mortgage News | Tagged rates, stocks | 1 Comment »
October 30, 2008 by Carol VanAusdal
Today was a great day by all accounts. It is not often you can spend a whole day in class and come out feeling it was totally worth it. Amy Chorew, a nationally known technology instructor, was the featured guest speaker for our WCR Chapter in Santa Cruz, Ca.
All about Web 2.0
The picture of Amy turned out a bit fuzzy but trust me, her presentation didn’t. I consider myself pretty ‘techy’ but came away with many great tips which I have already implicated.
Amy has a great sense of humor and a very easy teaching stlye. If you ever get the chance to attend one of her classes, don’t miss it!
Posted in Happenings in Santa Cruz, Thinking out loud... | Tagged technoloogy | 2 Comments »
