Credit: Sarah Sinclair

The median home price throughout the South Coast increased from $1.5 million last July to $2 million this May. In the intervening time, the number of days properties remained on the market plummeted from 25 to nine. That’s according to a gleaning of the offerings found in the South Coast’s Multiple Listing Service, the Bible for all real estate brokers.

According to Santa Barbara–area Realtor Mort Maizlish, who spent the past four decades working in the local real estate industry, only five single-family homes are currently on the market for $1 million or less; by contrast, there are 77 listing at $3 million or more. Based on his reading of the tea leaves, Maizlish stated the median price for single-family homes has increased by 77 percent in the past two years. (That is significantly lower than the 83 percent increase reported by the California Association of Realtors for Santa Barbara County over the past year.)

“The past 12 months have seen a market frenzy that blindsided us all,” commented Maizlish. “If you’re selling now, you have little competition,” he added. “If you’re buying, affordable choices on the market on any given day are pretty thin.”



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