Inventory in Sacramento county continues to shrink, albeit slowly, in the midst of continuing falling prices. That is the only silver lining to be found in the real estate numbers for Sacramento county this January. That, and the fact that unit volume remains high although it is lower than last month.

A total of 1628 homes sold in the month of January, 84% higher than last year at the same time. Of these 1238 (76%) were foreclosures and 171 (10.5%) were short sales. Thus sales are heavily bent in the direction of distress sales. Not surprisingly, non-distressed sales suffered a decline of 26% year over year. Only 219 non-distressed homes sold this January, that is 13.5% of the total sales. Foreclosures have gained momentum – 133% more sales this year than the last at the same time and 200% more sales in short sales this year for the same period.

Meanwhile, the price declines continue. Sold price per square foot has dropped another $5 – $6 from last month’s $120.64 to rest at $114.86. That is a drop of 29% year over year. Average sales price has dropped 32.4% year over year from a high of $270,639 to rest at $182,861. This is also lower than last month’s $192,773. Median price has also suffered a loss of 36.3% year over year from a high of $251,000 to $160,000. Last month, the median price for Sacramento county was $170,000.

Inventory has shrunk a little further to 4 months and 3.7 months depending on whether you’re looking at 12 months of sales or 6 months. Foreclosure inventory has shrunk to 1.5 and 1.3 months respectively; this is lower than last month’s 1.9 and 1.7 months.

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