PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
October 19, 2006
Contact:
Wendy Elizabeth Gragg, President
Distinctive Real Estate
805.565.0246

Santa Barbara 's Luxury Real Estate Market is Red Hot!

In the last couple weeks the Santa Barbara luxury real estate market has been especially active, closing 3 sales above the $10 million each. This in the wake of the negative press about the real estate industry.

All three sales are located in Montecito, one of the crown jewel locations of Santa Barbara . One of the three sales, a beautiful historic 1926 estate sold for $15,750,000. to one of hollywood 's elite after being on the market for 889 days. The other two sales were quietly available for sale, and sold before coming onto the market. One of the sales sold at $11,100,000 the other sold at $14,000,000.

Adding these three sales to the 2006 tally of $10+ million dollar sales puts 2006 at $203,850,000. through mid October, nearly double the full year 2005. You can also see from the data below that 2000 was the first year in the Santa Barbara Multiple Listing Service to see a sale at $16 million, and the revenue for this real estate segment has increased quite impressively every year since.

$10+ million Estate Market Revenue

Source: Santa Barbarba Multiple Listing Service

So why is the $10+ million Estate property market in Santa Barbara booming? Well there are several reasons, one of which is Santa Barbara has seen very little new inventory from which affluent buyers might select from. This limited amount of existing Estate inventory, coupled with a limited supply of Estate land options and the difficult and exhaustive process of getting approvals and then building have been the catalyst for the very impressive sales data in the Estate market. Another reason is that Santa Barbara offers a wonderful quality of life that is difficult to find anywhere else in the world. Santa Barbara is a small, beautiful and clean oceanfront resort community that enjoys great weather all year long.

In response to the need to serve clientele in this high end boom, Distinctive Real Estate was born. Distinctive Real Estate is the only luxury boutique real estate firm in Santa Barbara with a focus on serving the affluent clientele with the very best service and representation. In addition to the traditional buying and selling, Distinctive Real Estate provides individualized concierge service that provides a wide array of services ranging from Estate Management, Vacation Rental and Interior Design, as well as to restaurant reservations, tee times at golf courses, and hard to get spa appointment down to filling the refrigerator with all our clients favorites upon their arrival.

Affluent buyers are finding that Santa Barbara 's fantastic quality of life, coupled with its historically limited inventory and low growth philosophy creates a wonderful living environment and perhaps a darn good investment strategy as well.

For more statistical analysis or market data, contact Wendy Elizabeth Gragg, President, Distinctive Real Estate 805.565.0246 WGragg@DistinctiveRealEstateOnline.com www.DistinctiveRealEstateOnline.com