The January 2023 sales stats for single-family homes in Santa Cruz County show a median price of $1.16M, down from $1.25M for the same time last year. This figure remained unchanged from the prior month, December 2022, which had the lowest median price of 2022. The current median price is more in line with the median prices of 2021 and higher than all of 2020. Although prices are down from the peak prices of 2023, you don’t have to go back much further to find large increases in prices.  It was not long ago that the median price was under $1M.

Inventory is very low, helping keep prices stable and making it a good time to sell. However, with days on market and months to sell up from previous months, sellers will need more patience as it is taking longer to get listings under contract. There are still some cases of multiple offers and overbids, but that is no longer the norm.

Interest rates just went up again after very strong employment numbers came in suggesting that the Fed may have to continue raising rates to combat inflation. Prior months had seen interest rates drop as inflation fears were starting to subside.