Source: Wikipedia
The real estate market in Santa Ana isn’t much different to many other cities across the country – it’s a seller’s market because inventory is very low, hence prices are still rising. If you need to sell, now is a good time because there’s good demand for homes in the city, but buying is a different story. Demand for each home on the market pushes prices up further.
Inventory Up From Last Month, Down From Last Year
Although total inventory is down in Santa Ana from this time last year, there has been a marked increase in the number of homes listed for sale from last month to this month. This time last year we were looking at 223 homes listed for sale in Santa Ana , while today there are 189, this is a 15 percent drop in inventory from last year but an encouraging increase of 24 percent from last month when there were only 153 homes listed. Maybe this is the start of a rising trend for inventory, though getting back to the levels of five years ago is still a very long way off.
Median List Prices are Still Rising
As we’d expect, when there are less homes listed for sale those that are listed can attract a higher market value. There have been some ups and downs in the city, but generally speaking median list prices in Santa Ana have been rising. As they stand, median list prices are 15 percent higher than this time last year when the figure was $340,000. Now they’re hitting close to $400,000 at a median of $392,400, which is just a slight 1 percent increase over last month’s median of $389,950.
Median price per square foot, which is often a more accurate determiner, has also risen, but more sharply. Last year the median price per square foot in Santa Ana was $242 but it’s risen by 21 percent to $292 per square foot today. This is also a 9 percent increase from just last month when the median was $269 per square foot.
With so few homes listed for sale in Santa Ana, houses are selling fast. One year ago, 55 days was the median. In most cities this would be considered quick, but now, with even fewer homes listed for sale in Santa Ana, it’s taking just 33 days to sell. This is a huge drop of 40 percent from last year and even 20 percent from last month when the median was 41 days.
Not a Good Time for Buyers in Santa Ana
As we’re finding in many cities across the country, Santa Ana is in the midst of a strong seller’s market – inventory is still very low, list prices are rising, and homes are selling very fast. This is great news for sellers because you can get top dollar for your home, but for buyers it’s not so good. Unless you have to buy a home in Santa Ana right now it’s probably best to wait it out, as many others are doubtless doing. It could be years before we see the inventory levels of five years ago – when there were over 1,500 homes listed for sale – but if you can wait you’ll benefit from more choice, lower prices, and less competition for every home.
Waiting could also get you a better mortgage interest rate. Mortgage interest rates in California have been rising along with the rest of the country since we saw such great rates around the beginning of May. Since then the trend has been mostly upward, but good news – today saw a 3 basis point reduction from 4.25 percent to 4.22 percent, making them 1 basis point lower than the national average.
