Archive for November, 2009

Elder Creek / Fruitridge Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

It only takes a small decline in foreclosure sales to begin to see price increases and this is true even in the Fruitridge and Elder Creek area of Sacramento county. Foreclosure sales fell by 59.8% year over year from 112 sold last October to just 45 this October. Short sales doubled from 6 to 11 and non-distressed property sales gained by 56.5% for the same period. Overall unit volume fell by 34.8%.

All this and price increases, albeit small. From $80.72 last October we see a price increase of 5.5% year over year to $85.17 this October. This corresponds to an increase in average sales price from $90,818 to $102,458 year over year pushing sales price above the $100,000 mark. Median sales price is now $88,950. Interestingly enough, homebuyers also bought homes on average 7% bigger this October than they did last October.

Inventory sits at 2.5 months based on the last year of sales and 2.7 months based on the last six months of sales corresponding to the slow sales we are seeing. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.3 months and 0.5 months respectively.

Downtown Sacramento Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

No foreclosures sold in downtown Sacramento this month and unlike elsewhere in Sacramento county the difference was not made up by non-distressed property sales. This led to an overall unit volume decline of 41.2% year over year. 2 short sales also sold in the area. While minor differences look like sweeping changes in this real estate landscape, overall apart from sales going down, the ratio of distress sales to non-distressed has remained fairly the same as last October at 1:4.

Average sold price per square foot has fallen by 2.2% year over year from $288.94 to $282.71. The average home sold was 26% bigger this October than it was last October and that skews the numbers for average sale price. So keep that in mind when I say that average sale price is now $473,290 which is 23.2% higher year over year from a low of $384,235 last October. Median price is now $356,950.

Inventory is at 9.9 months based on the last year of sales and 9.1 months based on the last six months of sales.

Arden-Arcade Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

The news is good. But I can’t guarantee it will stay that way. I believe that we may be in the middle of a market recovery, at least in certain areas of Sacramento county like Arden-Arcade and east Sacramento. But the short sales in the area and declining sales can change that scenario pretty drastically. So even though the news in Arden-Arcade is encouraging, it should probably be taken cautiously.

Foreclosure sales fell 43.6% year over year from 55 REOs sold in October last year to 31 this October. Short sales rose from 5 sales to 8 for the same period whereas non-distressed property sales also rose from 34 to 39 sales. Overall unit volume however dropped by 17% year over year.

Average sold price per square foot is now $160.34 down just 1.1% from last October’s high of $162.19. Average sales price is now $223,993 up 2.3% year over year from $218,954. Median sales price is now $175,950.

Inventory is at 5.2 months based on the last year of sales and 5 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory hovers around one month. Short sale inventory should be watched. It is at 17.5 months and 16.2 months respectively.

East Sacramento Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

If you’ve been waiting with bated breath for price increases and live in East Sacramento it’s time to rejoice! The price increase, albeit small IS year over year and IS here! Prices in East Sacramento rose year over year by 1.8%. Price per square foot is now $197.10 from $193.68 last October. Average sales price is now $233,317 which is 4.2% higher than the $223,895 it was last October. Median sales price has risen an unbelievable 44.7% year over year from $190,000 to $274,934.

Unlike elsewhere in Sacramento where price increases follow a low foreclosure inventory and increased sales in non-distressed property, here in east Sacramento we see a unit volume drop in every category except short sales which went from 3 sales last October to 4 this October. Foreclosure sales fell by 41.2% year over year while non-distressed sales also fell 11.1% for the same period. Overall unit volume fell by 21.1%.

Inventory is at 3.8 months based on the last year of sales and 3.6 months based on the last six months of sales.

Rancho Cordova Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

At first glance the statistics in Rancho Cordova real estate seem to show a homebuyer’s market where the homebuyers themselves are waiting with bated breath to see what will happen. Just 19 homes sold this month in the area of which 9 were short sales, 9 were non-distressed sales and just 1 was an REO. That is a unit volume drop of 80% year over year for foreclosure sales, a 200% increase in short sales and a 44% drop in non-distressed sales for the same period. Overall unit volume fell by 21% year over year.

Average price per square foot fell by 17% since last October from a high of $129.95 to currently $108.16. Homebuyers thus were able to buy homes on average 12.4% bigger than they did last year at the same time. Average sales price is now $293,945 down from $314,252 a year ago. Median sales price is now $280,000.

Inventory is now at 4.6 months based on the last year of sales and 4.7 months based on the last six months of sales.

Orangevale Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

A total of 41 homes sold this month in the city of Orangevale, an overall unit volume increase of 24.2% year over year. Of these, 19 were foreclosure sales, 4 were short sales and 18 were non-distressed homes. The good news of course is that non-distressed home sales are up by 100% year over year. Foreclosure sales have of course fallen but not as drastically as other places in Sacramento county. Foreclosure sales have fallen by 17.4%. Distressed and non-distressed properties are now almost evenly divided.

Average price per square foot is not $135.66 down 16.6% year over year. Homebuyers used the opportunity to afford themselves homes 9.1% bigger on average than a year ago. Average sales price is now $236,927 down 9% from a high of $260,467 from last October. Median sales price is now $227,000.

Inventory in Orangevale is at 4.3 months based on the last year of sales and 3.7 months based on the last 3.7 months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at little more than one month.

Galt Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

Some interesting changes in Galt on the real estate front have occurred and are no doubt encouraging to home sellers. If the banks really are controlling the release of inventory then at least in Galt they seem to be doing a fine job of it. Foreclosure sales fell by 51.3% year over year while short sales rose 40% and non-distressed sales which were non-existent last year at this time now make up 28% of all real estate sales. 10 non-distressed homes sold October over none last October! Overall unit volume fell 18.2% for the same period.

Average sold price per square foot is now $111.36 down 19.3% year over year. Average sales price is now $186,997 which is also a drop of 16.9% for the same period. Last October the average sales price was $225,028. Median sales price is now $177,500.

Inventory is at 2.8 months based on the last year of sales and 3 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is just over half a month.

North Highlands Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

It’s been a few months since we looked at the real estate landscape of the North Highlands area and since then a few changes have occurred, although none can be considered earth shattering. Foreclosure sales have fallen, as elsewhere in Sacramento county and at a 63.3% decline year over year the change is significant. Just 22 REOs sold this October over 60 last October. Needless to say, the ratio of distressed property sales to non-distressed is now at 3:2 as compared with over 9:1 last year at this time! Overall unit volume in sales has dropped 37.1% overall.

Average sold price per square foot is now at $94.08 higher than when we last checked but still on average 6.8% lower than it was a year ago when it was $100.99 – barely over the $100 mark. Average sales price is now $103,264 also a decline of 8.3% year over year from $112,580. Median sales price is now $103,000.

Overall inventory is at 2.5 months based on the last year of sales and 3.1 months based on the last six months of sales.

Fair Oaks Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

The real estate market in Fair Oaks is now nicely poised for a recovery. Of course we’ll have to see how it actually happens and how long it takes but the homebuyers definitely seem to be making their move lately. 41 homes sold in the area, up 28.1% year over year. Even with foreclosure sales falling 37.5% for the same period! Non-distressed sales have almost doubled from 15 last October to 29 this October! Short sales also doubled but going from 1 a month to 2 doesn’t seem to be news.

Average sold price per square foot is now $160.37 down 7.8% year over year from a high of $173.90. Homebuyers seem to have jumped in both feet first here and homes sold this month were on average 9% bigger than they were a year ago. So the more accurate figure here for prices is the price per square foot even though the average sales price shows a more positive picture of a year over year increase of 0.5% from $321,0123 last October to $322,595 this October. Median sale price now rests at $290,500.

Inventory is at 4.7 months based on the last year of sales and 4 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 1.6 months.

Citrus Heights Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

98 homes sold in the area of Citrus Heights in the month of October signifying an overall unit volume drop of 17.6% year over year. Foreclosure sales by themselves dropped 52.4% for the same period while short sales rose 71.4% along with non-distressed sales which rose 62%. The total area taken up non-distressed sales has now gone from 17.6% to 34.7% year over year. 1 out of 3 homes sold are now non-distressed up from less than 2 out of 5 a year ago.

Average price per square foot is now $119.68 down 10.6% year over year from a high of $133.88. Average sales price is now $176,141 also down 10% from last October’s high of $195,709. Median sales price is $175,000.

Inventory in Citrus Heights is at 2 months based on the last twelve months of sales and 1.8 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.5 months no matter how you look at it. Citrus Heights seems to also be absorbing its short sale inventory, albeit slowly. Based on the last year of sales, short sale inventory is at 7.2 months and based on the last six months of sales, it is at 5.6 months.

Carmichael Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

The total number of homes is mostly unchanged year over year for Carmichael, although the real estate landscape has changed a little. Foreclosure sales for instance have fallen 44% for the same period. Short sales have not changed at all – 9 seems to be the magic number for October sales last year as well as this one. The biggest change seems to be in non-distressed property sales: 32 homes sold this October, a 45.5% increase over last October’s sales.

The ratio of distressed to non-distressed property sales is now almost 2:3, as compared with 3:2 last October. A good reversal for those of us hoping for price increases and a return to normalcy in the Sacramento real estate marketplace soon.

Average price per square foot for now remains depressed at $161.51 which is 10% under last October’s $179.19. Average sales price is now $249,022 down 24.8% year over year from a high of $331,229. Median sales price is now $220,000. But take the average sales price with a grain of salt because the average home sold was also 16.6% smaller than a year ago.

Inventory is at 6.1 months based on the last year of sales and 5.4 months based on the last six months of sales.

Folsom Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

Real estate prices as well as home sales in Folsom have recovered slightly, a phenomenon not seen often lately. 69 homes sold in the Folsom area – almost the same number as last October. These included 22 foreclosure sales, 11 short sales and 36 non-distressed homes. This is an increase in unit volume year over year by 3% which is just the 2 more short sales this month over last October.

Average sold price per square foot is now $175.49 which is 9.6% lower than it was last year from a high of $194.03. Last month, it was $173.09 so it is a little higher month over month. Average sales price is $364,305 down 12.5% year over year from $416,239. Median sales price rests at $350,000.

Inventory in Folsom is at 5.5 months based on the last year of sales and 4.9 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 1.7 months no matter how you look at it. The real dark clouds on the horizon are of course the short sale inventory – 16.1 months based on the last year of sales! And homebuyers are not lapping them up in the last six months either: that number is at 15.8 months!

Elk Grove Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

247 homes sold in Elk Grove this month, an overall unit volume decline of 23.8% year over year. More significant perhaps is the fact that while a year ago distressed property sales made up 86% of all real estate sold in the area, today distressed property sales are at 72% of all sales.

Foreclosure sales have fallen 54% year over year and the space has been taken up by short sales which are now 29.1% of all sales. That is a 50% increase year over year in short sales. We are also seeing an increase in non-distressed property sales by 54.5% for the same period.

Average sold price per square foot is now $114.53 which while the same as last month is an 11% decline year over year from a high of $128.61. Average sales price is now $237,934 down 10% year over year from last October’s high of $264,652. Median sales price is now $230,000.

Elk Grove has 3.7 months of inventory based on the last year of sales and 3.6 months of inventory based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory hovers around 0.5 months.

El Dorado County Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

The same trend that encouraged homebuyers to look outside of Sacramento county and buy a home in El Dorado county is being seen today. Although prices might be a factor, they are not the only reason. The reason might well be that El Dorado county sometimes trails behind Sacramento county in trends.

As an example, this month, while we have seen declines in foreclosure sales in almost every real estate market in Sacramento county, here in El Dorado county we see an increase in foreclosure sales – by 26.8% nonetheless. No measly number! Short sales also correspondingly have risen by 77.8% while non-distressed property sales continue to fall by 17.4% year over year. Overall unit volume sales increased by 8.7% for the same period.

Average price per square foot in El Dorado county is now $145.57, not very different from last month but a decline of 19.2% year over year. Interestingly enough, homebuyers did not use the opportunity this month to buy bigger homes as they do in these parts and average home size sold also declined 7.5% year over year. Average sales price this reflects this and is 25.2% lower year over year to rest at $313,461. Median sales price is now $281,750.

Inventory in El Dorado county based on the last year of sales is at 9.2 months and based on the last six months of sales is at 7.7 months. Foreclosure inventory is just under 2 months.

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update: October 2009

There has been almost no change from month to month for Sacramento county real estate in October, but we could take the perspective of no news is good news. Market condition changes seem to be rumbling under the surface for a while now and this month is definitely an indication of them. For instance, foreclosure sales fell by 57.3% year over year! To balance that, we have seen an increase in short sales (59.6% for the same period) as well as non-distressed property sales (57.4% for the same period.) Overall however 1712 homes sold bringing unit volume down by 26.2% year over year.

Average sales price remains the same as last month, or almost the same at $121.85. Year over year, it has fallen by 5.4%. Average sales price rests at the $200,000 mark at $200,541 also declining year over year by 2%. Median sales price in Sacramento county is now $179,450.

Inventory is being watched closely by everyone and it remains the same as it was last month at 3.5 months. Foreclosure inventory is right around 0.6 months, something we are told the banks are watching as well.

Franklin – Freeport Real Estate Market Update: September 2009

The typical trend of real estate sales in Sacramento county has been to hover around about $100 per square foot and for sales to pick up in the short sale or non-distressed categories when foreclosure inventory fell below half a month. This in turn makes prices hover around the $100 per square foot mark if not rise a little month to month. It is not so however in the Franklin – Freeport area.

Foreclosure sales have fallen 52.2% year over year and there has been a corresponding gain in short sales by 93.3% and non-distressed property sales of 120.7% year over year. This has caused unit volume to drop by 23.7% for the same period. However, now the ratio of non-distressed to distressed property sales is looking quite a bit better at 1:3 as compared with 1:10 last September.

Average sold price per square foot however is not showing any corresponding increase. Currently it is $86.97 down 13.1% year over year from a high of $100.05. Average sales price is now $121,484 down 12.5% from $138,881 from a year ago. Median sales price is now $110,000.

Inventory is at 2.2 months based on the last year of sales and 2.4 months based on the last six months of sales.

Orangevale Real Estate Market Update: September 2009

Hope you had a good and scary Halloween weekend because if you’re looking to be scared by the real estate prices in Orangevale, you’re not going to find anything here. Prices actually climbed month over month in Orangevale from $145.72 to $152.12. This is still a year over year decline of 12.9% but that may change soon enough. Average sales price now rests at $231,497 again down by 14.4% year over year. Median sales price holds steady at $205,000.

32 homes sold this month down 8.6% year over year. The biggest drop was of course in foreclosure sales which fell 52.6% for the same period. Short sales gained 100% in sales and non-distressed property gained 10%. The percentages seem large, but really only 6 more short sales closed escrow along with just 1 more non-distressed property. So, apart from foreclosure sales falling, the market seems to be regaining some of its stability in Orangevale.

Orangevale has 4.2 months of overall real estate inventory based on the last year of sales and 3.8 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is right around 1 month.