Local realtors discuss latest housing market activity in Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Village Properties realtors are seeing entry level, single family homes, still selling very quickly and many times with multiple offers.

"Clearly, the market is not as robust as it was during the pandemic during the pandemic we really saw a dramatic shortage of inventory and out at huge influx of buyer demand both locally and from out of state out of area," said realtor David Kim of Santa Barbara.

Kim said now buyer demand has waned in part due to rising interest rates and inflation.

But buyer demand is still out pacing the supply of homes.

"}Yes, so entry-level home buyers that the pool of buyers is much larger, right as opposed to the high-end and entry-level buyers are also more affected by things like inflation, higher grocery prices. Now they’re being more selective more calculated making sure that they’re really making an offer on the ride home," said Kim.

Kim said the biggest challenge in housing throughout the area is lack of inventory.

Historically, low levels of property for sale, and that’s really driving prices up for seeing a high-level buyer demand not quite at the level of the peak of last year but a lot of people were playing the wait and see game and I coming out of the woodwork’s now," said realtor Devin Wong of Santa Barbara.

Despite limited supply of homes realtors say there are still opportunities for buyers and sellers.

"The take away I’d say for sellers is that it’s critical to position your property well in this market. Pricing is paramount," said Kim.

Realtors are also seeing movement in the ultra high end housing market.

"You really need to differentiate yourself from the pack so if you don’t have the most amount of money you need to be flexible on location or the condition of the property," said Wong.

In short, realtors said buyers are taking their time when shopping for homes.