Santa Cruz County Market Update – January 2023
Below are the Santa Cruz County Market Statistics for the month of January ’23. Here are the highlights:
– Active Inventory dipped 16.9% from December ’22 to January ‘23. Active Inventory is up 61.2% from January ’22.
– The median SFH sales price for January was $1.16M, the same as the month prior. January ’23 median home price is down 7.2% from January ’22.
– Number of Sales decreased by 26.2% from December ’22 and is down 27.9% from January ’22.
– Days on Market in January ’22 was 31. Days on Market in January ’23 was 54.
January was a particularly odd month for Santa Cruz Real Estate. The activity was historically low; primarily the result of catastrophic storms that hammered our coastline throughout early January. Combine that with the fact that activity is already suppressed due to interest rates and you get only 62 sales for the month. The theme of our market continues to be low supply and demand. Lack of demand due to seasonality and high rates. Lack of supply due to high rates and potential capital gains at the sale. The number of new listings in January was 66. That was the second lowest month in the last three years, only greater than December ’21. The good news is that activity is increasing. Sellers are starting to list homes after pausing due to the January storms and buyers have begun to come out of hibernation and adjust expectations to our new market conditions. News that impacts real estate has been positive. We have now seen 7 straight months of decreasing interest rates and the latest job reports indicate a very strong labor market. Both are signs that we could avoid a recession after all. TBD.
