Santa Cruz County Market Stats
Published
I track Santa Cruz County market conditions every week. The numbers below come from Altos Research for the week ending September 14, 2026, the most current data available.
Data from Altos Research, week ending September 14, 2026. Single-family homes. Sponsored by Padraic Collins, Stewart Title. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Contact me for neighborhood-specific breakdowns.
What the numbers mean
Santa Cruz Median List Price Holds at $1,449,000. Price Cuts Reach 42%
The Santa Cruz County median list price is $1,449,000, unchanged from last week. Asking prices have now sat within a $2,000 range for five weeks, so the $1,449,000 shelf is where sellers landed after stepping down from $1,499,000 in mid-August. Per square foot the county reads $734, up three dollars. That is the second weekly gain and the highest reading since the first week of August.
Active single-family supply is 404 homes. Inventory has drawn down three weeks running from the August high of 419, and the count is close to where it stood in late July. Reductions cover 42% of listings, the largest share this year and up from 33% in late July. Better than four in ten owners have already cut once. Buyers have room to ask. Sellers should read it as a cost of starting above the comparable sales.
Market Action Index Slips to 37 After Ten Weeks at 38
Santa Cruz County reads 37 on the Market Action Index. Altos counts anything above 30 as a seller’s market and anything below 30 as a buyer’s market. At 37 the county keeps its seller tilt, though this is the first change in the reading since the third week of July.
The index weighs how fast homes go under contract against how many are for sale. Last month it stood at 38. A single point is small, and inventory fell in the same week, which usually pushes the number the other way. So the move points to slower absorption rather than heavier supply. Spring topped out near 38 and the direction since has been flat to softer. Watch whether 37 holds through the end of the month before reading anything larger into it.
Median Days on Market Returns to 70
Median days on market for active Santa Cruz County listings is 70, up from 63 last week. The figure covers homes currently for sale, not homes that closed, so it measures how long the standing pool has waited rather than how long a sale takes.
Seven days back on the clock means the pool aged and few older listings left it. Fresh inventory has thinned as the season turns, which leaves the carryover group weighing more heavily on the middle. A home priced to recent sales, in a location buyers want, still goes pending in about two weeks. The two month median belongs to the spring listings that never adjusted. With 42% of the county reducing, sitting still is the expensive choice. Thirty days with no offer means the price needs another look.