The South Coast real estate market has been quite lively this year, a nice comeback after a bit of a slowdown in 2023. Over the first six months of 2024, the median sale price of homes has steadily increased, and in many local areas, it has surpassed the median price reached two years ago. Comparing the first six months of each year, the median sale price of homes throughout the entire South Coast was $2,250,000 in 2022, then dropped -5.5 percent in 2023 to $2,130,000. So far this year, however, the median sale price for South Coast homes — $2,242,500 — is an increase of 5.3 percent higher than last year. For condos, the median sale price went from $950,000 in 2022 down to $911,250 in 2023 (-4 percent), then rebounded to $969,550 in 2024 (+6.4 percent over last year). Not only were prices on the increase this year, but the inventory of available properties for sale has risen as well as the number of total sales.
Not every sector of the market enjoyed the same percent of increase: Median sold prices in Montecito, Carpinteria/Summerland, Goleta, and the condo market as a whole exceeded the 2022 record highs, while Santa Barbara bested 2023’s median but not 2022’s high. Hope Ranch’s median prices resembled a roller-coaster ride from 2022 to 2024, from $5,937,000, then up to $8,150,000 and back down to $5,495,250 —illustrating that in a small area with very few sales, even one or two transactions can swing the median price dramatically enough to make statistics unusable.
The other notable increase this year has been the total number of closed transactions. While not matching the total sales seen in 2022, compared to last year, 2024 has seen increased sales across the board in all areas of the South Coast, with 13 percent more homes and 5.8 percent more condos sold.
