Fueled overwhelmingly by the sale of properties that are either in foreclosure (or about to be), the real estate market in Elk Grove posted another banner month for unit volume in September.  Indeed, by a statistical coincidence, exactly three times as many homes sold in Elk Grove this year as last year in September, with 91 homes selling in 2007 and 273 in 2008.

Although the increase in volume was more dramatic in Elk Grove than in Sacramento County as a whole, prices in Elk Grove fell somewhat less sharply than they did county-wide, but even with that lost 29.5% of their sold price per square foot value in a single year.  Last September, the average home sold in Elk Grove for $179.62 per square foot, so with an average size of 2,091 square feet, this worked out to an average price of $375,637.  This year, at an average of $126.72 per square foot, the average home of 2,096 square feet sold for $265,701.

Almost three fourths (73.6%) of the homes that sold in Elk Grove in September were already bank owned.  Another 13.6% were short sales.  Non-distressed sales were the smallest category of all, at 12.8% of the total.  if you look at the last six months of sales in Elk Grove, there are 3.9 months of inventory.  Even if you average the last twelve months, you still get a low inventory number for Elk Grove, at 5.1 months.

With the huge demand for distressed homes, it’s not surprising that buyers are competing heavily for the best priced offerings.  In September, with an average list price of $263,564, the average buyer paid $2,137 over list price.  Or put another way, they paid 100.81% of the list price.  Still, that’s not bad from a  buyer’s point of view when you consider the homes their buying are almost $110,000 cheaper than last year!

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