The housing market in Santa Cruz County, like all nine Bay Area county housing markets, is experiencing rising home prices. Such rising home prices in Santa Cruz County are unprecedented. In April, 2017, its median home price set a record of $830,000., topping out the price of $827,000. set in August, 2016. According to Gary Gangnes of Real Options Realty, April, 2017 was the sixth straight month that median home prices in Santa Cruz County were over $800,000.
Just this month, the Redfin real estate data and research web site posted 15 homes in Santa Cruz County with an asking price of $5M or more. 64 homes in Santa Cruz County currently have an asking price of $2M or more.
The median price of Santa Cruz County condominiums is also up. Currently, that median price of $615,000. is also unprecedented.
The priciest property in all of Santa Cruz County, again according to Redfin, is the Crest Apartments with a listing price of $17M. The Crest Apartments building, set on Capitola cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, has 19 units. Two years ago, the owners of that property had wanted to convert it into condominiums but city ordinances prohibited it.
Again, like all nine Bay Area county housing markets, the number of sales in Santa Cruz County is inversely related to median home prices. Higher prices result in fewer sales. In April, 2017, 130 homes were sold in the county, down 18% from the number of homes sold in April, 2015. Santa Cruz County condominium sales number was down to 32 in April, 2017, a decrease of 42% compared to the number of condominiums sold in April, 2016. Another factor driving up prices is Santa Cruz County is the scarcity of product on the market. Currently, there are only 149 homes available for purchase with listing prices less than $1M.
Leslie Appleton-Young, the senior vice president and chief economist at the California Association of Realtors said, ” Yearly price gains will most likely persist through the remainder of this home-buying season, further exacerbating an already low housing affordability situation.,”…the good news and the bad surrounding record setting home prices in Santa Cruz County.
