The Santa Clarita real estate market is showing some signs of recovery, with new escrows for single family homes for the month of August up by 120 vs August 2007, and active listings down by 619. New listings were 348 in August 2008 vs 506 in August 2007, for a decrease of 158. The ratio of new escrows to new listings has improved as well, with the number of new escrows representing 75% of the number of new listings in August 2008 vs 28% in August 2007.

Homes are still taking some time to sell, with average days on market at 115 days in August 2008 vs 90 days in August 2007. This is partly due to short sales, which generally remain as active listings until an offer is accepted by the bank. This approval process can take 30 days or more, depending on the bank (or banks) involved.

Sales were relatively constant, with 199 sales in August 2008 vs 186 sales in August 2007. However, the median price of single family homes sold was down by $200k in August 2008. However, this number may be a bit misleading, since the median price is affected by both the price level of homes sold (lower priced vs higher priced) as well as the price reductions that have taken place in this timeframe.

The good news is that homes are selling, and that investors are starting to jump back into the Santa Clarita real estate market. The not-so-good news is that a lot of these homes are short sales and bank owned (REO), which is an indicator that there are still some troubled homeowners out there. However, the percentage of truly troubled homeowners (meaning that they have a true financial crisis) vs the homeowners who just want to “bail” so they can buy a larger home at a lower price, is hard to determine. Also hard to determine is the number of homeowners who are having trouble making mortgage payments due to “resets”, or mortgage rate adjustments, vs those who did cash-out refi’s for $200k or more and now want to walk away from that free and clear via the short sale process.

Statistics can also show how sales are trending in an area, so look for our post on May 1 for sales trending by area… I’ll wait until April figures are complete before posting this data.

Will all of these homes be ones that you’d think of buying, after considering price, condition, location, size and floor plans? Likely not… In fact, many of these homes are short sales at come-on prices, which may or may not be accepted by the banks. If you are hoping to get a "deal" on a short sale, patience is a virtue… it can take months for the banks to approve offers and close the deal.

When comparing statistics for different areas, be sure to consider the overall characteristics of each area. For example, Castaic shows the fewest number of condos currently for sale, and Castaic also has very few condo developments as compared to other areas within the Santa Clarita Valley. To search for homes in any of these Santa Clarita areas, simply click on the town name in the table below.

Area	Single Family	Condo	Total
Canyon Country	366	152	518
Castaic	182	8	190
Newhall	155	117	272
Saugus	274	63	337
Stevenson Ranch	96	28	124
Valencia	309	103	412
Total	1,382	471	1,853

If you’re thinking of buying or selling a home in the Santa Clarita area, click here to search all homes available for sale!

Here are the numbers comparing January 2007 Santa Clarita home sales with January 2006:

	Jan07	Jan06
New Listings	454	442
Total Actives	1,884	1,392
New Escrows	249	176
Closed Escrows	177	153
Average Sales $	636,348	685,490

These figures are for Santa Clarita detached homes only, so they won’t include most condos and townhomes.

The biggest change is that the time to sell a home has increased over last year, with homes now taking over 90 to sell on average. Sellers will need to remain a bit more patient to get their homes sold, and they’re going to need to take a closer look at pricing according to the local comparable sales rather than what they’d like to walk away with. We’re still seeing a lot of homes being listed at inflated prices, and then they end up sitting on the market for several months unsold.

Another bonus is that interest rates still remain below 6%, so many buyers will still qualify for the funding that they need to purchase a new home.

Remember that the hottest selling season of the year is rapidly approaching! If you’re thinking of selling your home, click here to get instant comparable sales data.

Here’s a quick at-a-glance summary of the Santa Clarita real estate market activity for single family homes through June 30, 2006.

Source: CrisNet MLS. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here’s a quick at-a-glance summary of the Santa Clarita real estate market activity for single family homes through June 8, 2006.

Source: CrisNet MLS. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here’s a quick at-a-glance summary of the Santa Clarita real estate market activity for single family homes through the first quarter of 2006.

Source: CrisNet MLS. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.

Here’s a quick at-a-glance summary of the Santa Clarita real estate market activity for single family homes through March 23, 2006.

Source: CrisNet MLS. Information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.