Quick Take
The Santa Cruz County housing market saw its sales drop and the number of houses on the market fall below 400 for the first time since March as the slow time of the year takes hold. Inventory remains higher than the same time last year, and houses are also taking longer to sell than they did a year ago.
The Santa Cruz County housing market began to slide into its typical winter slowdown in November as sales dipped and properties took longer to sell than in the month prior. Despite the inventory and sale drops, the market remains more balanced than it has been in recent years.
Coldwell Banker agent Jessica Wallace said that, looking back, housing market activity was largely flat throughout the year.
“I really don’t think that’s bad, given the tariff concerns, economic uncertainty and the up-and-down stock market,” she said. “I think we’re doing good to not have a dip this year.”
The number of available homes fell to 393 from 455 in October, according to the latest data from the Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors. It’s the first time that the local housing inventory has dropped below 400 since March, when there were 367 homes on the market. However, even though inventory has been gradually ticking downward over the past few months, it was still 25% higher than in November 2024.
There were 100 home sales that closed in November, about 10% lower than in November 2024, when there were 111 sales. Prices increased slightly across the county, as the median sales price was up to $1,294,500 from $1,194,000, an 8% increase, per the realtors association.
Properties took longer to sell across the county than they did in October, averaging 63 days on the market in November compared to 54 days in October. Although the generally longer days on market is indicative of higher inventory levels, since buyers do not feel the need to close on a sale immediately upon finding something they like out of fear someone else will snatch it up, Wallace said there is also probably some carryover from when people were waiting on the sidelines for mortgage rates to dip.
“There was probably some pent-up seller demand from when the interest rates were super high and people thought it wasn’t a good time,” she said.
For the better part of the year, inventory has been in the 400s or even 500s, which was a major departure from the years prior and is considered generally high for the region. The post-pandemic era characterized by extremely low mortgage rates featured some months where inventory fell under 100, and although the number of available homes is beginning to drop despite longer days on the market, Wallace attributes that in part to people taking their homes off the market during the holidays.
“When you have your house on the market and you live in it, it’s not fun, especially during the holidays,” she said.
Still, due to the higher inventory levels observed throughout most of the year, and the fact that buyers are taking their time to explore their options before closing a sale, the market has remained much more balanced than it has been in many years. Wallace said that buyers have a bit more negotiating power as properties sit on the market for longer, resulting in county homes for sale receiving 97% of the listing price in November — and she expects the picture to be very similar in 2026.
“I really think next year is going to look a lot like this year. [Mortgage] rates are trending down, so maybe we’ll have a few more sales, but I think it’s going to look a lot like this,” she said.
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