Realtors predict housing crisis in Santa Cruz County is not going anywhere soon

Moving to Santa Cruz County is sought by many, but realtors say the problem is there’s not much to show.

Susanne Hood, a realtor with Century 21 says “We have an incredibly low amount of inventory, which means there are very few amount of homes for people looking to buy.”

While some may question why we can’t just build more houses, Hood says it’s not that simple. “its very difficult to get financing and building in this county is really challenging. A lot of contractors are doing business in Santa Rosa because after the fires they need that housing. Unless we have contractors building houses hand over fist, I don’t see this situation is going to improve.”

Realtors tell KION the housing market typically works in 10 year cycles with the last market crash happening in 2008. Now it’s been ten years, but realtor Emily McClintick with Bailey Properties says don’t hold your breathe for that next bust. “There’s no predicting the future, but there’s only more people coming. With Silicon Valley growing, we hear between Facebook and linked in and google they’re hiring ten thousand new people a month, their crisis in Silicon Valley is worse, so they’re coming here,” says McClintick.

A new development on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz was put on the market in January. Just one open house can bring up to 30 interested buyers, “This development, day one, three offers on unit one and then one of those people who didn’t win immediately got number five,” says McClintick.For those looking to buy right now, McClintick has some advice, “Be ready with all of your financials and have your package ready because sometimes you have to submit that with your offer or your offer won’t even be considered.”