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 7, 2026, the most current data available.
Data from Altos Research, week ending September 7, 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 at $1,449,000. Price Cuts Reach 41%
The Santa Cruz County median list price is $1,449,000, up $1,000 from last week. Asking prices have held inside a $2,000 band for four weeks running, so the step down from the $1,499,000 shelf that lasted from early June into mid-August has settled. Per square foot the figure is $731, a dollar above last week and the first gain since July. Sellers found a lower shelf and stayed on it.
Active single-family supply is 407 homes, down 5 in a week and 12 under the August high of 419. That is two straight draws, though the count sits well above the 376 recorded at the end of June. Reductions now cover 41% of what is for sale, the largest share this year. More than four in ten owners have already lowered their number at least once. If you are buying, that is room to negotiate. If you are selling, it is a warning about starting high.
Market Action Index Holds at 38 for a Ninth Week
Santa Cruz County reads 38 on the Market Action Index. Altos treats anything above 30 as a seller’s market and anything under 30 as a buyer’s market. At 38 the county stays on the seller side, the same figure it has carried since the third week of July.
The index compares how quickly homes go under contract against how many are available. A month ago it also read 38. Nine weeks without movement, while supply rose and fell inside a 25 home range and reductions climbed from 33% to 41%, says demand still matches the flow of new listings. Leverage has not changed hands. What changed is the route sellers take to a deal, and more of them get there by cutting first. The spring climb from 37 in late May has gone nowhere since.
Median Days on Market Drops to 63
Median days on market for active Santa Cruz County listings is 63, down from 70 the past two weeks and back to where it sat through July. The measure covers every home currently for sale rather than homes that already closed, so it describes how long the standing pool has waited.
A drop of seven days means some older properties left, either under contract or pulled. It does not mean everything is moving faster. A house priced against recent comparable sales, in a spot buyers want, still goes pending inside about two weeks. What keeps the median near two months is the group that came out high in spring and has not adjusted. With 41% of the county reducing, waiting costs money. Past 30 days with no offer, look at the price first.