Edhat Staff
By edhat staff
For the third year in a row, Santa Barbara made it on the list of the top ten worst cities for first-time homebuyers.
Santa Barbara dropped down the list this year coming in seventh while in 2020 and 2019 it ranked as third.
In 2020, 40% of all U.S. single-family home purchases were made by first-time buyers, and 14% more people became first-time buyers than the previous year. This growth is due in part to the fact that interest rates dropped dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to WalletHub.
WalletHub compared 300 cities of varying sizes across 22 key indicators of market attractiveness, affordability, and quality of life. Their data set ranges from cost of living to real-estate taxes to property-crime rate. Here is how Santa Barbara fared.
Buying a First Home in Santa Barbara (1=Best; 150=Avg.):
- 234th – Housing Affordability
- 263rd – Cost of Living
- 281st – Rent-to-Price Ratio
- 174th – Median Home-Price Appreciation
- 196th – Foreclosure Rate
- 122nd – Property-Crime Rate
Santa Barbara ranks #294 overall and #132 among small cities.
The top five best places to purchase a home are Chesapeake, VA; Gilbert, AZ; Lincoln, NE; Cape Coral, FL; and Boise, ID respectively.
Out of 300, Santa Barbara is followed by fellow California cities San Mateo, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, respectively. Further condensed to city size, Santa Barbara’s “small city ranking” determines it is followed only by San Mateo, Santa Monica, and Berkeley.
The typical home value of homes in Santa Barbara is $1,508,149 with home values increasing by 26.9% over the past year, according to Zillow.
Santa Maria was ranked 189, followed by Oxnard at 227 and Ventura at 257. Roseville was the “most affordable” California city for first-time homebuyers ranked at 56 followed by Elk Grove at 78 and Visalia at 87.
If first time home buyers don’t like living in one of the most desirable places in the country where home values appreciate like a rocket, yes Santa Barbara is the worst.
I’d like to see some of the rich people build a few ADUs on their properties and rent them affordably to their gardeners, cleaning staff, etc. The new state laws limit the city from having much say over this. So how about it, Oprah? Make a little Oprah village of three or four houses on some corner of your nice property. (How close is she to a bus line?) And really, not just Oprah, but a lot of the bigger places would be good spots for a few rentals. Some already have them. But now it will be easier to get permits.
This should surprises no one by now. Why keep asking for something that is not available in this premium coastal area Plenty of affordable housing however in surrounding average commuting distances.
There is far more public housing in the city of Santa Barbara than any surrounding city I know about. Plenty of affordable housing – just no turnover and long waiting lists. However, never say when over 20% of housing options are subsidized public housing options means there is no “affordable housing”. No affordable housing in Hope Ranch or Montecito – when do they provide their fair share since they are often collectively large employers of lower income jobs.
BigUgly, you keep coming up with the same complaints and the same story. Nothing about being a “local” translates as a right or relative income/skill level to get you any windfall housing. If you have been here 40 years and never got into the housing and/or good job market, not having a home today should not come as a surprise? There were windows where something could have worked, but not today. Dearborn Place was one of them. Mobile homes, easily could have been one of them. Local government pays extremely well and they always have job openings – you could have built up your skill package for any one of them. Health care skills – again could have worked. The licensed trades. Many others did leverage condos or mobile homes into their desired home over the past decades, and/or took advantage of either high paying vocational training skills at SBCC or obtained a degree at UCSB which repaid the investment of time and effort. 40 years was a long time for you to keep putting off your “tomorrow”. Others did exercise a better sense of timing, took less than they wanted, sacrificed to make the mortgage, property tax and insurance payments, and then rode the market up into some tidy equity, if they did not blow it by refinancing and spending this windfall down on depreciating assets. It was never easy or a windfall. It was always about making prudent, long range choices and present sacrifices. Good news however is you now or will soon qualify for the many senior public housing units that are made available for low-income people. Contact SBHA and get on their waiting lists. Being a “local” might matter in this case. There are both public housing and private subsidized housing options in this town for seniors. Do some homework and make this work for you, even at this late stage of your own reality check. I am sorry you remain so envious which is not a good way to spend your second half of life. That is a choice; not a fixed condition. Thank you for sharing your story. Others can learn and hopefully know when to take some risks and sacrifices today to make sure they are not at the wrong end of this equation later when there probably are few do-overs. Buck up, SBHA just may be your best aging in place option. Thank the taxpayers for making this so.
It’s worth it to live here. There will never be enough for everyone who wants to live here.
I will never understand the thinking of those who sacrifice their future for a what they believe is a better lifestyle in Santa Barbara. Why on earth would you live in SB, in practical poverty, suffering daily in order to meet your basic needs, when you can find a peaceful, easy life for a fraction of the cost in a thousand other great places? This town eats and digests thousands of these fools a year. There is a steady stream of people who come and try and live here without the financial resources, career opportunities or the where-with-all to make enough money. They are chasing some fantasy beach lifestyle and they are a big part of our city’s problems. Like the endless flow of homeless, these fools continue to come here and expect a piece of something they have not earned. They are just as bad as the lazy Nth generation locals who feel that they’re owed a piece of this town because their great grandfather moved here in 1939… as if. Work harder, earn your own way and buy your own piece of paradise. You are owed nothing, you are due nothing.
UCSB turns out 5000 new graduates every year, who don’t want to leave and have no skills to make it work to stay. They become the endless noisy ones, demanding someone else funds their lifestyle choices. Every year, 5000 more – past 10 year means potentially up to 50,000 voices demanding “affordable housing” so they can stay here.
Your statement parrots the far right GOP diatribe – no facts , lot’s of opinion, and very self-righteous.
Lots of California public pension recipients move out of state. They take their California tax payer funded pensions with them because that money, as generous as it is, goes even farther out of the home state that provided it. Lose-lose for California taxpayers who are still stuck with paying off these public pension promises for life, while not benefiting from the recirculation of those dollars back into the state that is providing them.
Conservative diatribe hasn’t changed much: work, save, invest.
Fascinating combination of views expressed here. Everything from the realistic – no ones entitled to live in SB, to the downright sad – I’m a local and can’t afford it here! Throw in a little downtrodden like – I think I might have to move, it’s but like it used to be!
Keep it coming folks. Let’s see how many of the gimme gimme gimme types come out if the woodwork. Heavy taxpayers that work, have skin in the game, AND quite possibly are local – know from local politics there are A LOT of you out there. Make your voices heard!
Spot on. This message is truth and a hard pill to swallow for most. I may fall into that group slightly, but I am well aware of my choices and dont complain. I only support the people who planned well, and not dwell on being envious.