It’s that time again! And this time, it seems like the real estate numbers seem to agree with most people’s predictions. (Hey, maybe next we can predict the Presidential Election results!) The overwhelmingly common opinion I hear from most clients is that we are around the bottom of the housing market. And I believe they are right.

Here are the numbers: total sales are up from last October! Sacramento county saw 1369 homes sell this October as compared with 884 last October. So the statistics are finally catching up with anecdotal data. As I have mentioned somewhere before, I see many investors and first time home buyers now entering the market. I hear things like, “I don’t want to miss out on this market!” Until now, this was just personal experience. Finally, we are beginning to see it carried out in the overall market numbers.

Since last October, the ratio of the number of distressed to non-distressed sales has completely reversed. Whereas last year, we had 61.3% of all sales as non-distressed homes, foreclosures and short sales made up 71.9% of sales this October. The number of short sales sold have also almost tripled from 33 to 138 this year over last October, suggesting that the push, even on lender’s minds is to get the inventory sold as soon as possible. Less than a fifth of the total market (18%) is now comprised of non-distressed sales.

Now let’s go to the real meat of the story and what all of us really care about: real estate prices! Average price per square foot fell 30.3% from last October to rest at $131.50 but we actually saw an increase when it was compared with last month’s price per square foot of $130.50. I know, I know, it’s only a dollar increase, but anything that is not a decline offers most home owners hope!

We are seeing similar hopeful numbers in the average home prices. The average sale price for a house in Sacramento county is down 34.7% over last October. It is now $211,916. But if you followed the market update last month, you will see that is actually an increase from September 2008′s average of $208,212. The median price has also seen a slight increase from last month’s $185,800 to $190,000 in October 2008, even though it is a decline of 36.7% over last October’s median sales price of $299,999.

Based on 12 months of prior sales, inventory in Sacramento county is at 5.7 months and based on 6 months of prior sales, inventory sits at 4.5 months.

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