AGENT MLS HOME FINDER

A mid-sized city in Santa Cruz County, Watsonville, California, lies in the northern part of the state and is a farming community of more than 50,000. It is known for growing lots of strawberries, apples, lettuce and other vegetables. The city is modest and its housing market contains some of the more affordable properties in the area. Because the Watsonville real estate market is lower priced than many of the surrounding areas, it did not get as overheated as many other markets did during the mid-2000s and therefore it has not suffered nearly as hard as these markets since the U.S. economic downturn began in 2008. Nonetheless the market still has seen drops in prices, even if they weren’t six-figure declines.

At the end of 2009, in December, the market saw a total of 54 Watsonville homes for sale as well as 25 new listings, according to statistics from the Santa Cruz Association of Realtors. This was a huge drop from a year ago, when there were 33 new listings to make the month’s total inventory 179. Many of the single-family homes that went up on the market shortly after the crisis have since sold. The month accounted for 18 sales, a decline from a year ago, when there were 25, and the average number of days home spent on the market before selling was 18, down significantly from a year ago, when that figure was 75 days. The average sales price at the end of 2009 was just over $287,000, down by around $10,000 from the 2008 figure. The median price, which stood at $277,500 at the end of the year, was down by a larger clip of more than $20,000.

The market for condos in Watsonville showed similar trends to the market for single-family homes at the end of the year 2009. In December, there were 11 new listings for a total of 32 condos on the market, a decline from a year ago by nearly half, when the inventory stood at 62. There were just five condos sold however, down from nine at the end of 2008. The number of days condos spent on the market before selling has worsened significantly. In December 2008, the figure stood at just 39 days, but in 2009, it had risen to 145 days. Condo prices have slid further over the year than home prices have: The average price in December was just over $202,000, down by more than $40,000 year-over-year, while the median price was down to $185,000, a steep drop from last year’s $260,000 median.