Our local Santa Ynez Valley real estate market is experiencing a surge in sales with properties selling quickly. Our inventory is at a record low and with interest rates being low, the buyers are ready to buy, especially in the lower end of the market.
Of greatest importance, sales are currently at a record pace!! So far this year (2012), 241 properties have been placed in escrow including 34 properties that went into escrow in June, 2012 alone. In the months of April and May, 2012, we had 99 properties go into escrow. This reflects a record pace as, in the full year 2011, we had a total of 194 properties close escrow. We are now on pace to double the number of sales in 2012 as compared to 2011. At long last, we have very good indications that our local real estate community is rebounding from the difficult market we experienced the last few years!
We are also seeing a 30%+ reduction in the number of bank owned/short sale properties that have closed escrow in 2012 as compared to 2011. We have had a total of 105 closings in 2012 so far and of these closings, 31 were bank owned or short sale properties (29% of the total sales were bank owned/short sales). I was curious how this compared to 2010 and researched my stats from the first half of 2010. In 2010, there were 103 sales and of these sales, 43 properties were bank owned or short sales (this is about 42% of the sales). The number of foreclosure/short sale property sales continue to decrease reflecting that the inventory is now starting to include fewer distressed properties and more sellers choosing to enter the market to take advantage of low inventory and motivated buyers.
Again, overall we are seeing good news for the Santa Ynez Valley real estate market!
Judy Crawford
Village Properties, Santa Ynez
judyc@villagesite.com
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