Santa Clarita Valley home prices rose by more than 8 percent year-over-year in February; however, on a month-to-month basis values were unchanged – backing up the forecast that price growth will moderate in the market this year.
M. Dean Vincent, president of the Santa Clarita Valley Division of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors (SRAR) expects the valley’s median home price to rise by five percent this year. No gains in value occurred from January to February, as the market’s median price stayed put at $530,000.
“With the continued limited inventory, it’s likely prices will move higher in the coming months,” Vincent said, adding so long as interest rates stay low rising prices can be sustained.
Inventory in Santa Clarita Valley slow to improve
Entering March there were 509 active listings, which includes 366 single-family homes and 143 existing condos. This total equates to 2.7 months of supply.
In February, 121 new single-family listings hit the market, up minimally from 107 newly-listed homes in January.
According to Jim Link, CEO of SRAR, increased supply is unlikely to happen anytime soon partly because Baby Boomers are resisting to move or trade down.
Continued price appreciation could mean the pool of potential buyers in Santa Clarita will shrink, pushing sales activity down.
During the first two month of this year 249 existing single-family homes sold in the market, which is nearly unchanged from the 250 transactions that closed during the same two months last year.
March sales totals in the market may be down, as entering the month there were 311 pending escrows, which was down 7.2 percent on a year-over-year basis.
With the median price of a single-family home in the valley now equivalent or higher than some “bottom-end” newly-built homes, which start in the $500,000s, now appears to be a good time for homebuilders to strike.
These groups are currently most active within Five Knolls, a new community that includes six home collections from Brookfield Residential, TRI Pointe Homes, Meritage Homes and KB Home. Prices are said to start in the $500,000s. The community officially opened last September.
