The Santa Cruz County Real Estate Market Trends Report

Trends At a Glance

May 2009

Previous Month

Year-over Year

Median Price

$470,000

$449,000 (+4.7%)

$617,500 (-23.9%)

Average Price

$508,121

$558,497 (-9.0%)

$728,157 (-30.2%)

No. of Sales

139

129 (+7.8%)

126 (+10.3%)

Pending Properties

262

246 (+6.5%)

194 (+35.1%)

Active

746

787 (-5.2%)

1,240 (-39.8%)

Sale vs. List Price

98.0%

97.2% (+0.8%)

96.9% (+1.2%)

Days on Market

64 (+45.2%)

71 (+30.5%)

Market Overview

	Santa Cruz County Home Prices Continued to Rise in May
The median price for single-family, re-sale homes rose 4.7% from April. The median price was off 23.9% year-over-year. The average price fell 9% month-over-month, and was down 30.2% compared to last May. Sales of single-family, re-sale homes were up, year-over-year, by 10.3% in May. Year-to-date, home sales are up 21%. Inventory was down 39.8% from last May. This is the thirteenth month in a row inventory has declined year-over-year. The drop in inventory and the rise in sales combined to push our Days of Inventory indicator down 21 days to 156 days. In a balanced market, the supply of homes is usually around five to six months. For condos, the indicator rose thirteen days to 172 days. The sales price to list price ratio rose 0.8 of a point to 98%. Pending sales, a leading indicator, were up 35.1% year-over-year. Condo sales were up 3.4% year-over-year. Year-to-date, condo sales are up 28.3%. The median price for condos rose 17.5% from the month before, but was down 9.2% compared to last May. Condo inventory was down 34.4% compared to March 2008. Pending sales for condos is up 25% year-over-year. The real estate market is very hard to generalize. It is a market made up of many micro markets. For complete information on a particular neighborhood or property, call me.