Santa Cruz Median Home Surprise

Santa Cruz Median Home Price Surprise?

Pick up the newspaper or watch the news on TV and you can't help but see how bad the news in the real estate market. However there are some areas in the country where property values have not been hit as hard as the central valley area of California. Certainly the Watsonville area of south Santa Cruz County has seen a major decline in home values comparable to central valley property values. However in comparison, many home owners in the prime areas of Santa Cruz areas like Aptos, Rio Del Mar, Capitola and Santa Cruz feel they have not taken the same decline in their property values. These prime areas have in the past have held their property values in even the toughest market downturns.

However based on median home values, over the last ten months the mid county areas of Santa Cruz County have seen their property values go down at the same rate as the Watsonville area. Certainly most people would never believe that homes in Aptos, Rio Del Mar and Santa Cruz were declining in value at the same pace as Watsonville. But they have. There is a historical seasonal pattern with Median Home Prices and usually we see a decline in the median price in the winter months and a high in the summer months.

Given this once in a lifetime bear real estate market, there are still many questions. Have we hit bottom? Will we see the usual seasonal higher median prices this spring and summer or will the median price just continue on a downward spiral? My guess is that we will see the usual seasonal pattern of higher median prices this summer in the mid county areas and this is due to the sale of higher priced beach properties during the spring and summer months. With regards to hitting the bottom of the market, when we have reversed the number of distressed properties on the market, we will have hit the bottom.