Santa Barbara real estate is poised for recovery and stability, according to economist Mark Schniepp through a Pacific Coast Business Times article published on November 17, 2009, by Hendry Dubroff. While commercial real estate markers and other economic benchmarks like job growth and a turnaround of other measures may continue to be problematic for Santa Barbara, it is a good sign to see the housing market begin to level off.

RealtyStore.com’s October 2009 California Foreclosure Report was released on October 31, 2009, and brought good news for real estate in Santa Barbara. Based on NODs, or Notices of Disclosure, Santa Barbara and the surrounding county saw only a 26% increase while the rest of the state suffered from a jump of 34%. “The figures indicate that many California homeowners are struggling even more in 2009 to meet their mortgages.” However, it is important to realize that the actual foreclosure rate in Santa Barbara is also much smaller than that of other cities and communities in the state. Although the number of notices increased by about a third, this doesn’t mean that 33% more homes were actually foreclosed by banks.

Santa Barbara homes for sale aren’t completely free of worry yet, though. David Streitfeld wrote on October 27, 2009 in the New York Times that “even as new figures show house prices have risen for three consecutive months, concerns are growing that the real estate market will be severely tested this winter. Artificially low interest rates and a government tax credit are luring buyers, but both those inducements are scheduled to end. Defaults and distress sales are rising in the middle and upper price ranges. And millions of people have lost so much equity that they are locked into their homes for years, a modern variation of the Victorian debtor’s prison that is freezing a large swath of the market.”