Real estate prices in Santa Cruz: through the 3rd Quarter of 2017, home prices rose in most neighborhoods, then softened slightly in October. This real estate market report summarizes prices for San Lorenzo Valley real estate, and 2017 real estate trends in the cities of Scotts Valley and Santa Cruz.
PRICES Like the soft rains and yellow maple leaves dancing in the light breezes of fall, average single family home prices in the San Lorenzo Valley feel like they may be cooling off after years of hot double digit appreciation. In the chart above you'll see many areas had single digit appreciation during the 3rd quarter of 2017. (Tiny micromarkets like Lompico and Brookdale have so few home sales that percentage changes aren't statistically signifiant.) The market for affordable homes near Santa Cruz priced $600,000 and under is still sizzling like a summer bar-b-que though: multiple buyers are competing for just a handful of homes. The San Lorenzo Valley has some of the most affordable homes in Santa Cruz County: SLV real estate prices are about two thirds of the Santa Cruz County average real estate prices. Scotts Valley average real estate prices just topped $1 million in 2017, joining the average home price for Los Gatos Mountains and the City of Santa Cruz.
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SILICON VALLEY The housing shortage in the Silicon Valley continues to drive the region's prices higher. In Santa Clara County, the average price of a single family home in October reached $1.5 million. With an average home price of $600,000, the San Lorenzo Valley and Boulder Creek are a little known secret offering relaxing small town hide-a-ways for high tech workers. Boulder Creek's affordable housing is less than an hour's commute from Apple or Alphabet (Google). One of my specialties is helping people relocate here!
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY’S APPEAL People from the Silicon Valley are understandably enchanted by Santa Cruz, with our beaches, many parks, and smaller cities and towns. The Santa Cruz lifestyle is less formal with a slower overall pace. There’s more room to spread out, and consequently lower stress, crime rates and smog. People tell me they enjoy driving through the mountains to work, rather than sitting in traffic and spending a lot more money to live in Santa Clara County.
REAL ESTATE MARKETS ARE LOCAL The advice of a knowledgeable local REALTOR®, who can show you the trends in your neighborhood and your specific kind of property and price range, is invaluable. Select someone you trust, who knows the area well. Understanding pricing, analyzing location, property appeal and condition, requires local market intelligence. When choosing your REALTOR®, also consider if the agent has enough time to dedicate to you!
The INVENTORY BLUES Buyers are frustrated because there simply are not enough homes for sale, especially in the under $1 million price range. San Lorenzo Valley has only 65 homes for sale right now. Scotts Valley has about 30 homes for sale, while Santa Cruz – a far larger city - also has just 30 homes for sale. Right now, Santa Cruz County has just 333 homes for sale (down about 10% since August). So, if you’re considering selling your house – market conditions are strong!
DAYS ON THE MARKET Overall, Santa Cruz County homes are on the market only 30-40 days on average before going into escrow with a buyer. This just declined about 2 weeks, due to the scarcity of homes for sale. Intelligently priced and especially affordable homes are selling quickly, some receiving multiple offers within the first 2-3 weeks.
INTEREST RATES & ECONOMY Instead of keeping Janet Yellen for a second term, Trump nominated Jerome Powell to take over leading the Federal Reserve. The stock and bond markets have priced in a third interest rate hike by the end of this year. As a result 30 year fixed rate mortgages rates crested above 4% within the past few weeks, still historically quite low. The economy was estimated to have gorwn about 3% over the 3rd quarter, and there's minimal inflation (under 2%). Jobs and employment are quite strong, with unemployment rate at just 4%. The problem is that earnings growth is slower than the increase in home prices across most of the nation. Silicon Vally incomes are growing at the 4th fastest rate in the nation.
Sources: MLSListings.com (Single Family Residences), Reuters, Inman News, REALTOR.org, ActiveRain.com, Mercury News. Month to month home sales prices fluctuate widely in small communities and cities, especially where property values can range between multi million dollar properties and fixer upper sales. Because of this, percentage and average price changes often aren’t statistically meaningful for a static 30 day period. *All stats as of 11/3/17, MLSListings.com single family residences only.
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