Perhaps you’ve heard… the balance of power in the Santa Clarita real estate market is shifting. That’s this guys opinion anyway. We’re seeing a larger inventory of homes listed for sale which provide more options for home buyers. We’re seeing less multiple offer situations on homes listed for sale in Santa Clarita.
Essentially, due to the increasing inventory, we’re moving from a pure sellers’ market, to one that resembles something more of a fair and somewhat balanced market. Nice properties priced well are still selling fast and even with multiple offers…. but there’s quite a bit of over priced inventory in the Santa Clarita valley. Perhaps it’s glutted with homeowners trying to take advantage of what have been rising prices, they’re asking for a premium despite the condition or location of their home, and we’re seeing homes like that sit longer. None-the-less there are way more choices out there for home buyers to consider than there were one year ago, and the year before that.
When the buyers have more choices, the sellers have to compete with one another. Price drops are how they compete. Sometimes they compete by adding value, with certain home improvements being made prior to listing the home for sale; granite counters, new landscape, and the likes.
The Santa Clarita Valley real estate market will continue to see rising prices; albeit tempered growth percentage wise. The conditions that will drive prices higher are:
Still somewhat low inventory – only 780 homes in Santa Clarita actively for sale approx. as of this first week of July. I know I made an issue of the inventory increasing… creating this balancing effect…but what you need to realize is that our inventory had been in drought mode. It’s up 74 percent year over year from May 2014.
Low interest rates for home loans that make buying more affordable.
Renting a home is very comparable in cost to the mortgage payment, especially when considering tax benefits of owning a Santa Clarita home as well as the immense lost opportunity cost with respect to building equity.
This is great news for our local SCV real estate market. When there’s an opportunity for growth, and both sellers and buyers are able to achieve their personal goal when buying or selling a home… everyone wins.
