Santa Barbara housing market: median home price and forecast
The Zillow Home Value Index shows Santa Barbara home prices at $1,805,649 in September 2026 for a typical Santa Barbara, California home, +4.9% on a year earlier and the highest month on record.
- Value of a typical home
- $1,805,649September 2026, Zillow ZHVI
- Change over 12 months
- +4.9%. Compared with September 2025.
Santa Barbara home prices since 2000
Santa Barbara is the steel line; the United States is the grey one. The typical Santa Barbara home was worth $468,922 in January 2000 and stands at $1,805,649, ×3.85, while the US figure over the same months was ×2.99. The boom peaked in July 2006 at $1,138,752 and bottomed in December 2011 at $665,621, −41.5%.
Median home price by year in Santa Barbara
Each year's number averages the twelve monthly values; 2026 shows the most recent month.
| Year | Santa Barbara | Change on the year | United States |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | $492,508 | $125,745 | |
| 2001 | $580,473 | +17.9% | $134,899 |
| 2002 | $664,376 | +14.5% | $144,276 |
| 2003 | $766,458 | +15.4% | $155,308 |
| 2004 | $892,732 | +16.5% | $169,891 |
| 2005 | $1,045,752 | +17.1% | $189,732 |
| 2006 | $1,119,529 | +7.1% | $206,531 |
| 2007 | $1,033,507 | −7.7% | $208,449 |
| 2008 | $896,970 | −13.2% | $195,574 |
| 2009 | $772,699 | −13.9% | $177,542 |
| 2010 | $784,770 | +1.6% | $171,462 |
| 2011 | $709,513 | −9.6% | $162,508 |
| 2012 | $682,930 | −3.7% | $161,137 |
| 2013 | $786,506 | +15.2% | $171,420 |
| 2014 | $892,961 | +13.5% | $182,996 |
| 2015 | $957,938 | +7.3% | $192,738 |
| 2016 | $1,013,827 | +5.8% | $204,509 |
| 2017 | $1,037,496 | +2.3% | $216,767 |
| 2018 | $1,072,542 | +3.4% | $230,541 |
| 2019 | $1,077,424 | +0.5% | $242,088 |
| 2020 | $1,097,790 | +1.9% | $257,151 |
| 2021 | $1,330,629 | +21.2% | $295,959 |
| 2022 | $1,665,200 | +25.1% | $340,014 |
| 2023 | $1,659,913 | −0.3% | $348,160 |
| 2024 | $1,743,251 | +5.0% | $359,751 |
| 2025 | $1,739,477 | −0.2% | $362,959 |
| September 2026 | $1,805,649 | +4.9% | $366,157 |
What a home bought in Santa Barbara in any year is worth now
An index-based estimate of a typical home, not an appraisal.
Each year's figure averages its twelve monthly index values; today's value is September 2026. More tools: home appreciation calculator.
Thinking about selling? See how local agents compare on Realtor.com. Advertising disclosure: links like this one may pay the site, and no number changes because of them. Disclosure.
Santa Barbara housing market forecast
For the Santa Maria, CA metro, Zillow's forecast is +1.9% across the 12 months from September 2026, with +0.4% over the next three months. If the forecast is applied to Santa Barbara's $1,805,649 typical value, it would reach near $1,840,000 one year from now.
That forecast repeats Zillow's own central estimate for the metro; the site itself publishes no forecast of its own. Such a 12-month forecast has typically landed several percentage points away from the realised change, in both directions. This is not investment advice.
Every metro's forecast is gathered in one table: housing market forecast.
Santa Barbara housing market crash risk score
47 out of 100, on the high side
The score's ranking of Santa Barbara against the 292 cities uses five conditions that ran high before earlier price falls. Each input is set from 0 to 100 by comparison with the other cities; the five scores then get an equal-weight average. Conditions now are what it describes; predicting a crash is not what it does.
| Input | Value | Sub-score | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active listings vs 2019 | −27.8% | 14 | 20% |
| Days on the market vs 2019 | −15.9% | 14 | 20% |
| Price-to-rent ratio | 41.3 | 99 | 20% |
| Price-to-income ratio | 16.9 | 100 | 20% |
| 12-month price change | +4.9% | 7 | 20% |
This is not investment advice. How each input is scored: scoring method. Rankings for all 292 cities: crash risk by city.
In Santa Barbara: housing inventory and days on the market
In September 2026 the Santa Maria, CA metro listed 718 homes for sale, with the total at +4.4% from a year earlier and −27.8% versus the same month in 2019. The median listing sold in 58 days (−15.9% against 2019), while 16.1% of listings came down in price.
| Santa Maria, CA metro, September 2026 | Value | On a year |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings | 718 | +4.4% |
| New listings | 260 | |
| Median days on market | 58 | −10.8% |
| Median list price | $1,720,750 | −8.9% |
| Share with a price cut | 16.1% |
Metro inventory: Realtor.com® Economic Research. Realtor.com data. For every metro: days on market per city.
Living costs in Santa Barbara
By the Zillow Observed Rent Index, the typical asking rent in Santa Barbara runs $3,642 a month, +3.8% on a year. Buying the typical home takes 41.3 years of that rent. Median household income stands at $106,800 (Census ACS 2024), which puts the typical home at 16.9 times a year's income. For the metro, BEA gives prices an index of 108.8, where the US average is 100, and housing costs an index of 151.4.
What rent costs, what prices look like, and the salary needed to move: cost of living in Santa Barbara.
More housing markets in California
- $927,891 in Los Angeles.
- For San Diego, $980,490.
- San Jose comes to $1,353,869.
- $1,441,021 for San Francisco.
- Fresno comes to $384,885.
- The figure for Sacramento is $470,552.
- Long Beach $852,391
- $710,647 in Oakland.
- Bakersfield comes to $385,686.
- For Anaheim, $941,684.
All of the state: California's housing market.
How to read this chart
Each point plots the Zillow Home Value Index for Santa Barbara, which gives the smoothed and seasonally adjusted value, in that month's dollars, of a typical home in the market's middle third. The hollow dot marks the month the slider is set to, and the terracotta dot marks the latest month. These figures are not adjusted for inflation. An index tracks the typical home rather than one particular house. To find what a single home is worth, take the sale price it fetched and check the card above it, or use the home appreciation calculator.