Mesa 2016 Market
The year 2016 will go down as a good market on the Mesa. Still, prices have paused in their upwards move that had lasted from 2012 to 2015. We are at a moment when the market is hesitating. Is it going to pick-up again? We are not quite sure. We are watching the market very closely to see if there will be a resurgence with the new year.
Mesa prices, over the course of 2016 didn’t actually give back any gains, but the increase in prices was under percent. That is a far reach from the average 10 percent annual increase from the past four years.
Taking a long range view, things look pretty good. For the year as a whole in 93109 we had 88 sales vs. 97 in the previous year. By most measures it was a good year. Certainly, it was nothing like the down years of 2006 to 2011. It did take four to five weeks longer to sell a Mesa home in 2016 than it did in 2015, so you may need to be prepared for a bit longer marketing time to make a sale. There are 34 active listings as we turn the year into 2017 vs. 21 active listings a year ago, so there is more inventory.
We track the price that a seller actually receives compared to what they were originally asking. In December 2015 Mesa sellers were receiving 97 percent of the asking price, but in December 2016 they only received 92 percent. Sellers were dropping their prices during negotiations to get their homes sold. That drop of 5 percent means buyers had more of an upper hand than in past years. However, November and early December brought good news as there was a surge of Mesa homes selling as the year ended.
The 2016 flat market could easily be swept away by a new burst of buying. Fortunately there are a lot of people looking. This can quickly alter the market back to one that is booming. I don’t believe that the market will continue to be flat. I feel that the market is bouncing back, especially if what we are seeing in December on the Mesa, and elsewhere on the South Coast, is a harbinger of things to come.
Santa Barbara Market
In December the South Coast market was showing signs of buoyancy that can easily lead to more sales on the Mesa. Looking at the whole year, the South Coast market showed signs of balance between buyers and sellers when you look closely at the numbers.
As in 93109 the number of South Coast sales for the year was down a few percent with 1113 sales compared to 1,140 the year before. Despite fewer sales, the median price was up 3.6 percent rising from $1.1 million to $1.14 million. Comparing what was asked, to what buyers paid, the sales price ratio dropped from 94 percent to 92 percent. That drop meant that during the year buyers had more power. The inventory increased 24 percent, giving people a little more choice than previous years. All of these factors describe a market moving into a balance between buyers and sellers.
But, looking at December South Coast market, there was a pick-up in both sales and pendings compared to 2015. There was a swing to more sales as the year ended, and I expect a good start to the year in 2017.
Do you need to venture into the real estate market in 2017? You may be capable of buying, but you will want a Mesa expert working at your side.
Prices have increase dramatically over the past fi ve years. When it is time to sell and move, my experience will be of great help to you. I have sold 394 homes on the Mesa and I’m in the top 1 percent of sales agents in the United States at Berkshire Hathaway. This is sales performance at the outstanding level. Call and put these capabilities to work for you.
Client Talk…
“Scott did a fantastic job for us. We were remote sellers and so needed to have a Realtor that could take care of everything, that was Scott. Excellent communication, excellent planning and follow through. The plan that Scott put in place for us included setting our expectations, getting the place ready, coordinating with workers for repairs and improvements, professionally staging the house, professional photography and creating an excellent brochure for the sale. Scott was also very patient as we hit the market, getting several others, providing excellent guidance, managing a diffi cult escrow and eventually selling for over full price. We would recommend Scott to anyone selling or buying a property in Santa Barbara.”
– Ian Harvey
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