I’m starting to hear it more and more from my home buyer clients in Santa Clarita. They’re starting to compare Santa Clarita home prices of today (Oct 2013) and compare them to the fall/winter 2012, when they were on the fence about buying. Prices are certainly higher now. Much higher in some cases.

I remember selling a townhome in Saugus to a home buyer client of mine for about $235,000. That was a 3 bedroom 3 bath two-story with attached two car garage in about 1300 sq ft or so… today they could easily sell it for about $330k. They bought it in Nov 2012 approx. WOWZA! A 40+% increase in value. That’s just one example. I’ll spare you of others.

Today, home buyers are faced with slightly higher interest rates in the low to mid 4% range, and prices a higher prices. If you were looking in 2012, but held off, you might be a bit hard on yourself for the decision to wait. There may have been some great reasons to wait it out. Some buyers waited for this shadow inventory we always hear about, but never see… it hasn’t hit and prices haven’t come down due to it or in fear of it.

What Should You Do?

Buy now, or wait even longer… perhaps prices will come back down? From my stand point, I don’t see prices flattening or going down anytime soon. We are seeing price reductions, but typically those are on already over-priced homes; sellers who got a bit greedy. Overall I see prices continuing to go up, albeit in smaller percentages than we’ve seen over the last 12 months. The inventory of homes for sale in Santa Clarita is just too small. Small supply. Too much demand (still).

Inventory is in fact rising, it’s just not enough to impact prices by making them go down. My recommendation is to buy a home ASAP in order to hedge your bet against further increases in interest rates, and to hedge against further home value increases. Get in now while you can. It’s not 2012 pricing… but it’s also not summer 2014 pricing. Based on the trend, you don’t want to buy then if you can now.

Can you buy now? Ask Robert! I’d love to help you if now is the right time for you. Reach out to me @ 661-373-2374 or simply make contact here.