Today we’re going to take a look at what’s going on in the Santa Clarita Valley area real estate market. While data relating to pending and active listings can give us a decent idea of current trends, the best way to get a feel for our market is by examining the homes that have actually sold. In the last 90 days, we’ve had 921 properties sell in our area. Of those properties, 625 were single-family homes, while the remaining 296 were condos, townhomes, or manufactured dwellings. Here is the full breakdown of homes sold by area:
Canyon Country - 216
Castaic - 78
Newhall - 96
Saugus - 204
Stevenson Ranch - 43
Valencia - 283
“Santa Clarita” - 1 (This home was actually in Canyon County, but was listed otherwise).
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The best way to get a feel for our market is by examining the homes that have actually sold.
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Looking at how these 921 properties broke down between price points, it’s clear that some ranges see more activity than others. Here is the full breakdown of homes sold per price point:
$300,000 and below - 48 homes
$300,000 to $450,000 - 220 homes
$450,000 to $600,000 - 334 homes
$600,000 to $750,000 - 219 homes
$750,000 to $900,000 - 64 homes
$900,000 to $1 million - 13 homes
$1 million and up - 23 homes
If you have any other questions or would like more information about what this data means for you and your real estate goals, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Over the last 10 years, our market has experienced extreme highs and extreme lows. Around 2007, it hit a peak and subsequently crashed, but it went back up a few years later. That upward momentum continued until around last year, when things began to flatten out. Now, the market is forecasted to stay steady for one to two years. We’ll experience normal levels of appreciation between 2% and 4%, and there are two factors that indicate this: Inventory is still fairly low, though it’s growing in some areas, and so are interest rates. Since neither of these factors will change overnight, we can expect a consistent market for a while. If you want to talk about buying or selling a home, have any questions, or need more information, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
It’s time to look at how our market is performing so far in the early part of 2019. Let’s get right to it: As of now, our active inventory is at 557 homes throughout Santa Clarita Valley and 361 home sales are either pending or in escrow. Year to date, there has been a total of 288 closings. As you can tell, our market is experiencing a general upturn, with more homes in escrow than what was true of the same time last year. However, active listings haven’t budged much from where they were a year ago.
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The marriage of amazingly low rates and our active listings leveling off is encouraging for the strength and stability of our current market.
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Interest rates have been tempered as well. In fact, we’ve seen some conventional loans as low as 4.5% as well as FHA and VA loans situated at 4.125%. The marriage of amazingly low rates and our active listings leveling off—which means homes are still selling well—is encouraging for the strength and stability of our current market. This is to say that there are still moves to be made and plenty of opportunities to secure the best deal possible. If you have any questions related to our real estate market and how it affects your personal situation, don’t hesitate to reach out. Put us to work for you!
Now that we’ve transitioned into 2019, we’re happy to announce that our team has also transitioned into a new office! Don’t worry, though—we have no plans to leave RE/MAX Santa Clarita. We have a great relationship with the company and an amazing support staff and system to serve our clients’ needs at the highest level. The move wasn’t drastic by any means: We’re still on the same road between Lyons Avenue and Calgrove Boulevard, right off the 5 Freeway. We’ve gone from that white building into the big, brick building across from In-N-Out and the hotels nearby. We look forward to doing some client events at our new location in the future, as well as bringing you more videos that’ll acquaint you with the new space and introduce you to everyone who’s hard at work to protect your real estate investments! If you happen to be in the area and need anything from us, we’d love for you to drop in, say hello, and let us know how we can help.
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We’re happy to announce that our team has transitioned into a new office!
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For a moment, let’s turn our attention to the 2019 market and how it’s performing so far: Though it was slow going as we entered the new year, our market has again begun to pick up speed. We’re seeing multiple-offer situations spring up, interest rates are staying at historic lows, and correctly priced homes are still selling for top dollar. With the right amount of patience, some persistence, and a game plan, you can take advantage of what our market has to offer right now, and we’re here to assist you with that. For help with any and all of your real estate needs, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We look forward to an awesome 2019 and to talking to you soon.
We haven’t done a market update in a while, so I wanted to get one to you today about what’s going on right now in our local and national real estate markets. In Santa Clarita, there are about 690 active homes on the market right now that are available for sale. Over the last 30 days, there have been 262 home sales. If we look at the numbers over the last few months, we’re beginning to see a pattern of leveling out. We’ve been so used to extreme highs and lows over the past decade, but every sign is showing that the market is balancing out now. This normal, “boring” appreciation between 2% to 4% a year is good news for our market overall.
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There is opportunity for everyone in this market.
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We don’t exactly know how long this is going to last, but because our low inventory is gradually increasing and interest rates are bumping up slowly, we’re in a very equal and balanced market. In any shifting market like this, there is opportunity for everyone. Whether you’re looking to move up, move down, invest, or buy your first home, there’s opportunity out here as long as you know where to look. If you have any questions for us about how you can take advantage of this market, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email today. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
We’ve seen a lot of price reductions lately in our Santa Clarita area, but does that mean the market’s leveling downward as a whole? We don’t believe so, and here’s why. Most of these price reductions happened with listings whose sellers tried pricing their homes just ahead of the pace of the market while it was at an incline. For example, during this time, one of these sellers might’ve priced their home at $525,000 if they saw that the last home in their neighborhood sold at $500,000 and they thought theirs was better.
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Most of these price reductions happened with listings whose sellers tried pricing their homes just ahead of the pace of the market.
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As our market’s leveled out a bit, the excess demand for standing inventory has also leveled out. Now when we see that $525,000 home selling at—say—$510,000, what might look like an overall trend is actually the case of a seller reducing their price to a point that it should have been at all along. If you have any more questions about our Santa Clarita market or you’re thinking of buying or selling a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be happy to help you.
We’ve been seeing some changes lately in the market, so today we wanted to highlight a few things that you need to pay attention to, both in Santa Clarita and in the nationwide market. Inventory is starting to rebuild, which we haven’t seen in a long time in Santa Clarita. Over the last five to eight years, we were hovering in the range of 300 to 500 homes as far as inventory was concerned. Right now, we have about 650 active homes on the market. At the same time, 330 homes have sold in the last 30 days, so the market is still healthy and normal. As our inventory rebuilds, and should interest rates continue to tick up, this will knock out purchasing power for certain buyers. At this point, there’s only one thing for sellers in the market to do: be more competitive. In most cases, if the buyer pool starts to thin out, sellers need to be more competitive. Homes just aren’t selling as quickly as they have been.
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Homes that are priced right are still selling quickly and with multiple offers.
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In addition to this, we are seeing homes that are upgraded and priced right moving quickly and often selling with multiple offers. A lot of “experts” are saying that the market is going to start pulling back in the next year, while others are saying that we have another five to seven years of growth because of the economy. At this point, we won’t know if the market has pulled back or not until three months after it has happened. What we do know is that it’s always important to have a game plan in place. Whether that is using the equity in your home to invest, possibly moving out of the area, upsizing, downsizing, and what options you have and what upgrades you can do. No matter what your situations is, we’d love to work with you to develop a game plan. There’s no reason to panic right now, but it’s always important to have a contingency plan. If you have any other questions in the meantime, don't hesitate to give me a call or send me an email anytime. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
It is starting to heat up out there in the Santa Clarita Valley. Summer is around the corner, and so is the peak buying season for our real estate market. We haven’t given you a market update in a while, so I wanted to give you a quick update on the latest numbers and where we’re at.
Inventory is something you’ve probably been hearing about a lot. Over the last few years, we have been hovering at very low levels. We are nowhere near where a balanced market should be. Right now, we have 452 active listings on the market to go along with 517 pending sales.
Over the last 30 days, we have had 317 closed home sales. Anything over 300 is a great number. The interesting thing about our inventory is that of the 452 homes, 252 of them have been on the market for less than 30 days. More than half of our inventory is fairly new. At the same time, 96 homes have been on the market for more than 60 days.
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We have seen 317 closed home sales over the last 30 days.
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Another factor we need to consider is interest rates. Even though they are creeping up, our low inventory and high demand brings a lot of opportunity to the market for buyers, sellers, and investors.
If you want to know more about the market and where we see it heading over the next year, give us a call or send us an email. We watch these things closely and would be happy to chat with you. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
We are charging into the end of the year. There is just a month left in 2017, so I wanted to share some of the latest numbers from the Santa Clarita real estate market, as well as a few exciting things for you to look forward to.
Inventory is going a little crazy right now. That said, we are seeing a bit of a slowdown in the market as we head into the holidays.
Typically, the market slows down around the holidays, picks up in mid-January or early February, and then slows down again for a bit when school lets out. Then the market is hot all through summer, slows down when kids go back to school, picks up again for a bit, and slows down during the holidays again.
We didn’t see the cycles in our market a few years ago since there were so many foreclosures and short sales, but in the last couple of years, we have started to see those typical market cycles. That is good news.
Although things have slowed down a bit for now, there are still some good options out there.
There are 375 active homes in Santa Clarita as of the filming of this video. That is a really low number considering that we are closing 325 to 350 homes each month. As a result, we probably have one month of inventory available. At best, we have six weeks. This means that if no new homes came on the market, we would sell out in a month or six weeks.
There are 580 pending sales in escrow right now, and 223 homes have closed so far this month.
Now, let’s break down those active listings:
90 active listings in Valencia
21 active listings in Stevenson Ranch
39 active listings in Newhall
120 active listings in all of Canyon Country
There are just under 30 active listings in Castaic
70 active listings in Saugus
Something to consider is that 223 of those active homes have been on the market for 60 days or less, which means about 150 of them have been on the market for over 150 days. If you’re curious how these numbers impact your personal situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
We have about one month of inventory—six weeks at most.
Now, there are two exciting things I want to share with you.
First, we’re rolling out a new website in the next couple of weeks. You will get a notification once it’s ready. We are so excited about the new features on this site. We’ll even have password-protected areas for our VIP clients, friends, and family members.
Next, we are adding to our client appreciation program in 2018. Right now, we own popcorn machines, tables, chairs—anything that you might use or rent for a party, which you can borrow from us for free. We want to add at least one item to our party supply each month as we roll into 2018.
We have more exciting news for you in the future, but we just have to finalize a few things first. If you have any ideas on which items we should add to our party inventory, please let us know.
As always, if you have any real estate questions, just give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you. Happy Holidays!
What’s been going on in the world of lending? Well, a recent change has just opened up a whole new pool of buyers on the market. Here’s what that means for you.
Today I want to bring you a few updates from the world of lending.
In Santa Clarita, we’re starting to see condos and townhomes with new FHA approval. Properties along these lines that weren’t previously approved are now a great opportunity for sellers. If you’re sitting on one of these properties, know that a whole pool of FHA buyers has just opened up to you.
For one example, a condo complex in the heart of Valencia proper called Sienna Villas has not been FHA approved in the past and now is. There are many other properties this applies to, as well.
Ultimately, this change is good news for buyers and sellers alike. The FHA loan is a great option for buyers, so that means there will be a lot of buyers out there making use of this program. As you know, more buyers means more competition. Nevertheless, buyers working with the right agent can absolutely find great deals.
Working with quality professionals in general will make a big difference in your experience no matter your specific real estate needs or circumstances. I’ve heard far too often from clients who were unhappy with their experiences working with someone.
We can help you lay out a game plan for your real estate future.
That’s exactly why my team and I are happy to offer recommendations of professionals within our network. We’d be happy to help you meet the right professionals before you work with them.
We offer these services to you because we know that the market can be a difficult place to navigate. If you’re thinking of making a move, let us connect you with some of our world-class lenders.
Even if you’ve been told “no” in the past, our lenders will work with you to figure out your options. We can help you lay out a game plan for your real estate future. Even if the plan is to keep your current home, we can still help.
If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I recently attended the Santa Clarita Economic Development Committee meeting and heard some great news I want to share about what we can expect in the near future and next couple years.
Nationally, the unemployment rate is down 4.6% and wages are increasing. Real estate is increasing too, but because it’s not outpacing incomes, we don’t have to worry about a housing bubble. Consumer confidence is at an all-time high, and the indicator of a potential recession in which the market would fail is at a historic low of only 6%.
Jobs are being created as well. There were 6 million reported job openings last year, most of which were in the STEM category: science, technology, engineering, and math. Those are proving to be tough jobs to fill with unemployment being so low and job openings being so high, but the average STEM career path leads to making around $177,000 a year. There’s a lot of opportunity right now.
Now would be a great time to invest in a rental property.
In our local area here in Santa Clarita, the new Logics and Scorpion buildings are going up, which is creating a great number of new jobs. Apartment vacancy is at a low 2.1%, which means now would be a great time to invest in a rental property.
All of this great news means there are a lot of positive things on the horizon both nationally and locally.
If you’d like to get a more in-depth analysis of this topic or if you have any other real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!
Summer is right around the corner and most people think of it as the hot time to buy or sell a house in the Santa Clarita market. Should you wait until then to jump into the market? There are a few things you need to consider before making that decision.
For starters, inventory is still at an all-time low and prices are near record highs, making now the time to list if you’ve been thinking of selling your house. Strategically, you’ll be in a better spot now versus where you’d be in the summer if inventory does bounce back. Even if it doesn’t, listing now will give you the time to find something else before the summer frenzy.
We also don’t know what will happen with interest rates and all the potential policies coming into play.
Now is a very safe time to be either a buyer or a seller in our market.
So what does it really come down to in the end? We can guess about cycles but the fact of the matter is that because of the super low inventory and low interest rates, now is absolutely the time to sell. We will probably have a lot of opportunities in the summer as well, but now is a very safe time to get out in the market and make things happen as a buyer or seller.
If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in our market, just give us a call or send us an email. We’d be glad to help!
Happy New Year! I wanted to take a minute to give you a recap for our 2016 real estate market and go over a few things to expect from our market in 2017.
Currently in Santa Clarita, we have 410 active available homes, which is incredibly low compared to eight years ago when we had 2,500. When Santa Clarita is in a balanced market, we usually see anywhere from 1,200 to 1,600 homes. However, low inventory is causing home values to slowly rise, so the market is semi-balanced at the moment.
Last year in Santa Clarita, 39,024 homes were sold, so the average of homes sold per month was 327. This means with 410 homes on the market, we barely have six weeks of inventory.
Despite what you’re hearing, rates are still historically low.
This is fantastic news if you’re a seller because it means you have a great opportunity to get top dollar for your home. However, buyers looking to buy or invest can also take advantage of the market.
Lastly, as of January, the interest rate for a conventional mortgage loan is at 4.125%, an FHA loan is at 3.9%, and a VA loan is at 3.875%. Despite what you’re hearing, rates are still historically low.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out by giving me a call or shooting me an email. I would love to work with you!
Happy New Year! Thank you so much for your loyalty, trust, and support over the past year. We couldn’t be more thankful. We owe all our success to you and your trust in us over the years. As we roll into 2017, we want to discuss a few things you should be prepared for in next year’s real estate market. Here’s what to look out for:
1. Interest rates. Rates have been on the rise lately and are bouncing around a bit right now. I think they will settle in the mid 4% range, which is still historically low. If you’ve been thinking of buying, locking in a rate now would be ideal.
2. Inventory is still fairly low. With rates being up and inventory being low, we don’t anticipate a pullback in the market anytime soon. The market has to come back down at some point, of course, but I don’t see that happening this year.
3. Lots of opportunity for investment. If you’ve been thinking about investing, now may be the time to make a move. As long as you’re able to make the payments and hang on to the property, it won’t lose value in the rental market. It will only go up in value.
We couldn’t have been successful without you.
If you have any questions for me, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would be glad to help you whether you are thinking of buying, selling, or just have a question. I look forward to hearing from you.
With the presidential election coming up quickly, I’d like to answer the question I get most frequently: “How will the election affect both our local real estate market and the market nationally?”
My answer to this question is simply, “Nothing.” History has shown us that immediately after an election, the market does not see much of a change. The most important factor that we have to keep our eyes on is how consumer confidence is affected by this election, as this will be one of the few parts of the real estate market that is impacted.
What we know is that in the midst of political chaos and controversy, the main motivator for most people, by and large, is fear. Fear usually causes one of two possible outcomes: action or inaction.
The election should have no immediate impact on our market.
When there is fear and uncertainty in the market due to the election, people who might otherwise list their home are keeping their homes off the market. Likewise, some people who may not have been considering listing their homes have done so out of fear. It’s hard to predict exactly what effect this election will have on our market in the end.
We also know that interest rates aren’t going to increase immediately and that home prices won’t fluctuate drastically either. Overall, the election should have no immediate impact on the real estate market, but the fear and uncertainty about this election may have an impact on the market in the future.
If you have any other questions about what to expect from the Santa Clarita Valley market in the future or how long you have left to take advantage of the uptick we’re seeing right now, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to talking with you soon!
