After several years of rapid increase in the number and value of homes in the Lompoc Valley, the local
housing market has been making an adjustment since summer 2005. Inventory reached a high point in
June 2006. A buyer’s market continues with the oversupply of homes.
First-time buyers, from as far south as Ventura, are still buying
homes in Lompoc in the $300,000-$400,000 range. The Lompoc
Valley’s single-family detached home average selling price was
$399,000 and the median price was $380,000, with 205 closed
escrows from January through early December 2007.
More people will continue to seek housing in Lompoc Valley
because they are priced out of Santa Barbara County’s South Coast
market and much of the Five Cities market in San Luis Obispo
County. The relative affordability of housing gives Lompoc an advantage
over other coastal areas in the state. The high quality of life and
availability of a variety of home options will continue to attract buyers.
Almost 2,000 new homes were completed, approved or “in the
works,” all to be on the market within a six-year period. The area
has the largest inventory of entitled residential units since the mid-
1980s. On the north end of the city, La Purisima Highlands (121
units) was the first of a wave to be sold out and finish construction.
Across the street but not in city limits, Lanes End (42 units) and The
Bluffs at Mesa Oaks (77 units) are also completed. On the city’s west
end, Crown Pointe (85 residential units) was completed in 2005.
Heritage Oaks (100 units), located in Vandenberg Village, was
completed as housing for seniors 55 years and over in 2003. Affordable
units are included in most of the new housing development
projects. Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation
manages several affordable rental properties and three housing
developments in various stages of completion.
