Santa Cruz County Market Update – August 2023
Below are the Santa Cruz County Market Statistics for August ’23. Here are the highlights:
– Active Inventory increased by 5.6% from July ’23 to August ‘23. Active Inventory is down 4.7% from August ’22.
– The median SFH sales price for August was $1.20M, down 7.7% from the month prior. August ’23 median home price is down 7.7% from August ’22.
– Number of Sales decreased by 0.8% from July ’23 and is down 15.4% from August ’22.
– Days on Market in August ’22 was 29. Days on Market in August ’23 was 28.
Last month we discussed the possibility that we may have seen the peak in terms of activity for the year. That turned out to be a tad premature as sales only decreased by 1, active inventory had a solid 5.6% jump, and new listings had a strong 22.1% rebound compared to last month. While a ricochet off the terrible new listings number in July is nice to see, we continue to be on a historically low pace. This will keep prices inflated. Speaking of prices… the median P\price was $1.2M in August. If you follow Dax’s Data Weekly Market Updates, you know that $1.2M has significance as a low support level in our local real estate market. Expect a recoil off this number in September. The winds of change are coming. We can predict a continual decrease in activity as we march toward fall. August was another month of high interest rates resulting in suppressed buyer action. This suppression will continue until we see steady evidence of more affordable borrowing options.
