Sacramento Real Estate Blog

Placer County experienced a large drop-off in unit sales in September, though not as dramatic as Sacramento County’s. With 235 units selling in September of 2007 versus 362 in September of 2006, unit volume was off 35.1%. Thus, although the number of units that expired (i.e., failed to sell within their listing period) was down somewhat, the ratio of those that expired to those that sold rose from 87.8% to 129.4%.

This September the average home sold for 9.7% less than last September, if you look at sold price per square foot. Last year the sold price per square foot was $240.28, while this September it was $216.99. The actual average sale price increased, from $486,086 last September to $489,748 this September, a .8% increase. Of course, the reason we use the sold price per square foot as a better indicator is that this average hides the fact that this year’s average sold home was 11.6% bigger! At $415,000, the median sale price this September was down 4.6% from last September’s median of $435,000.

Bank owned properties accounted for 16.6% of the sales in September, compared to less than one per cent last year. In active inventory, bank owned homes account for 9.5% of the homes available (based on 300 REOs out of the 3154 available homes).

Inventory in Placer County is high, but still the lowest of the greater Sacramento area we typically write about at 9.5 months.