Santa Barbara, CA housing market
Data through Aug 2026 · Seller's market · leverage 33
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Home Value
$1.8M
+4.5% vs. a year ago
Buyer Leverage Score
33
Sep 2026
Months of Supply
2.9 months
Aug 2026
Days on Market
54 days
Sep 2026
Price Cut %
20%
Sep 2026
Sale-to-List Ratio
97.1%
Aug 2026
Mtg Payment as % of Income
116%
Aug 2026
Rental Rate
$3,692/mo
Aug 2026
Overvalued %
27%
Aug 2026
Expected Disaster Loss
$466
Dec 2025
What this means
- Valuation. Prices are 27% above what local incomes have historically supported (this area's pre-2020 price-to-income ratio).
- Prices. Home values are up 4.5% over the past year (U.S.: +1.2%).
- Supply. Listings are 43% below the 2017-19 norm and falling (−22% vs. a year ago): still a tight market.
- Negotiating. Buyer leverage is low (33/100; U.S.: 54): homes sell for about 2.9% below their final list price; 20% of listings had a price cut (U.S.: 26%).
- Affordability. A mortgage on the typical home takes 116% of the median household income (U.S.: 35%); it takes about $412k a year to keep the payment at 30% of gross pay. That includes about $2,131 a year for home insurance (U.S.: $1,790).
- Buy vs. rent. Buying costs about $6,598/mo more than renting a typical home (mortgage payment vs. typical rent).
- Disaster risk. FEMA expects about $466 a year in natural-disaster damage per $100k of building value (U.S.: $155), mostly from flooding. Flood isn't covered by standard homeowners insurance.
- Outlook. Leaning up: likely −4% to +12% over the next 12 months (78% chance of a rise).
Next 12 months
Leaning up
Prices are more likely to rise than fall over the next year. Likely change: −4.3% to +12.0% (80% range; middle estimate +5.0%), chance of a rise 78%, of a 5%+ drop 8%.
HouseVane's model, refit every month on local market signals and national ones, trained only on data known at the time. How accurate it has been.
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