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03 May

Average Sacramento Home Prices Drop Again in April

Posted May 3rd, 2006 | View Comments

Average Sacramento County home prices fell again in April, erasing the gains made in February and March and falling slightly below January’s level. The average sold price for residential property (including single family, condos, halfplexes, etc), fell to $392,252 in April based on Metrolist MLS data. Because the overall trend since August has been downward, appreciation since last April has been very low at only 2.23% per year. We predict that by next month the year-to-year price change will be negative and remain so until August at least.

As to median prices, we’ve hit our first year to year decline in recent memory. The median sold price in Sacramento County was $356,000 this April, versus $358,950 last April.

What this proves is that you shouldn’t buy a house on the median, because there are too many cars going by. Locations away from the highway are better.

You didn’t see that one coming, did you? Jokes like that can make you hate your first grade teacher for teaching you how to read.

But I digress. What you’re all waiting for patiently by now is THE CHART.

Sacramento Home Prices

  • Peter

    You deserve credit for printing the truth – that YOY prices will be negative soon.

    So if “Bubblers took it on the chin in March” as your premature victory blog of a few months back exclaimed, who is taking it now? The fact that the market has too either tank or go into a prolonged stall is obvious to any disinterested observer. I am willing to bet that anyone who denies this also thought the Dow would hit 20,000 by now.

    If you are looking to represent home buyers, you need to discuss the true situation in this market. Inventory is near all time highs, foreclosures are rising, adjustable rate mortgages and their ilk are set to self destruct soon (which will create even more desperate sellers) and price reductions are already rampant. How about a discussion of how insane some new asking prices are and the obvious disparity in asking prices among similar homes in the same area. Tell us how you can work for us to get a house at a very low price now that will protect us against future price drops, or else buyers will just wait it out and get houses for 10-20% less in a couple of years. Note that if prices stay the same, they actually become less expensive because of inflation and wage growth.

  • John Lockwood

    Thanks for your note.

  • John Lockwood

    No, as a matter of fact, sold price per square foot rose $5.44 from last April to this April, from $239.41 to $244.85. Thanks for asking. And while the median price fell by some eight tenths of a per cent, average nationwide interest rates on a thirty year fixed rose by eight per cent.

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