El Dorado Hills’ real estate market fared well in September. Unit volume held relatively steady, with 68 units sold this September versus 69 in September of 2004. These 69 units sold at an average price of $733,005, or 97.3% of their $753,424 average list price. Inventory currently is 4.8 months, versus approximately 4.5 months last month.
This September’s average list price was up 25.7% over last year, but homeowners looking to guestimate a price based on an earlier appraisal are cautioned that cost per square foot rose only 8.2% at the same time. Last September the average sale price was $585,438.
As in most markets, days on market — how long it takes to sell a home — are up quite a bit, from 31 last year to 44 this year. As a result, we’re seeing fewer discount listings happening as sellers are realizing that getting their home sold is no longer a matter of simply sticking a sign in the ground, and that a successful sale means both compensating the agent for the buyer and providing enough money for a serious marketing effort to the listing agent.
Residential real estate sales through the MLS in El Dorado County totaled 245 units in September. Unit volume was down 15.2% from last September’s figure of 289 residential units sold. The average El Dorado County home sold in September was 2125 square feet in size, and sold for $544,268, or 97.7% of the aveage list price of $556,628. The median home price was $500,000.
Cost per square foot was up 17.2% over the average during September of 2004. September of 2004’s average home was 2025 square feet in size, and sold for an average of $442,687.
Days on market were not changed much, but already fairly high last year at 45 days. This year’s average was 49 days. At 4.5 months, current inventory is higher overall in El Dorado County than either Placer or Sacramento Counties.
Countinuing our look at local real estate markets on a county-wide basis, we turn now to Placer County, Sacramento County’s neighbor to the northeast. As in most local markets we’ve looked at, prices are up, up, up, but sellers are paying the price in terms of days on market and overall number of homes sold.
Placer County’s home sellers sold 476 homes through the MLS in September. The average home listed for $562,768 and sold for 98.1% of list at an average sale price of $552,143. The median sale price in Placer County in September was $485,000.
This year’s homes sold were larger on average than last year. On a cost per square foot basis, Placer County seller’s enjoyed a 15.4% increase in home values from September to September. The unit sales volume of 476 units represents a 16.8% drop from September 2005’s unit volume of 572 units. Average days on market increased 50% during this time, from 26 days in September of 2004 to 39 days in September of 2005. Inventory is slightly higher than in Sacramento, with 4.0 months of residential inventory.
Well, as we get into late October I thought it’d be interesting to sort of hit the “zoom out” button on Sacramento’s real estate market and deal with September’s numbers for the entire county, rather than a given city or area. Of course, we’re still dealing with only a single month, but in a way our average numbers become more interesting when taken for the county as a whole because we have a larger sample (and therefore, as you may already know, the numbers become more statistically significant).
Anyway, theoretical mumbo-jumbo aside: In September of 2005, 1994 residential units were sold via the MLS in Sacramento County. Unit volume was down 14.9% from last September’s tally of 2343. A square foot of residential property cost $252 in Sacramento County in September, up 17.8% from the $214 per square foot figure of a year ago. September’s average was listed for $410,059, and sold for $407,445, or 99.4% of list, after being on the market an average of 30 days. The median sale price in September was $375,000.
Last September the median home sale price was $315,000, while the average was $340,019.
Days on market increased some 30% from last year, from 23 days on average last year to 30 days on average this year. As of October 27, we have 3.8 months of residential inventory.
Freddie Mac’s Weekly Mortage Market Survey was released yesterday. Rates were up slightly again, originations were down, and lenders are beginning to fear especially for their refinance business.
The average for a 30-year fixed is now at 6.15%, with an average of half a point.
This is still not what you would call “high” interest, but as always, we caution buyers who may be waiting for prices on homes to fall that they certainly will — because they tend to go in the opposite direction from interest rates. I think we’re in for another several months of interest rate increases before we see prices really go down, but that’s just an opionion of mine. I also think interest will continue to climb after that, albeit with “local” fluctuations in the rate along the way.
We’ve added a lot more information about condos in Sacramento County. We’ve changed the layout of the listings so that we can show all the condos in inventory more readily and put links to all these listings in a new Sacramento Condo Section for your convenience. With inventory the way it’s been, the old pages just weren’t keeping up. Moreover, our new pages includes the property description from the MLS, as well as links to the full details and the opportunity to sign up for condo email updates.
In addition, we’ve gathered together all the condominium related posts in a new blog category.
I wanted to welcome Lenderama — not Lendarama — to our blog roll. What, you mean it’s not “Mortgage Lendar” any more? 
Its webmaster, Todd Carpenter, is a real gentleman. He didn’t even rub my nose in it while helping me with my spelling.
Now let me get on with my buziness.
I don’t mean to discourage you if you live in Auburn, because let’s face it, the same principles apply there as anywhere else: if you price your home correctly and in line with other comparable sold properties, it will sell. So you can always beat the averages.
Having said that, Auburn’s September averages are some of the worst for the greater Sacramento market that we’ve examined. The figure that jumps out first of all is 6.9 months of inventory — this is the largest figure we’ve seen for residential inventory, though as we noted earlier, multi-unit residential income inventory is higher still. Average days on market for sold homes in Auburn in September were 48 days.
The average home sold in Auburn last month listed for $508,225 and sold for 97.2% of list at $494,131. The median sale price was $453,500. The average price was 18.4% higher than last September’s average sale price of $417,436, but on a cost per square foot basis the appreciation was a more modest12.6%.
Note that the numbers above are for all of Auburn including areas Southwest and West of town that are outside city limits, so if you live in the town itself and are thinking about making a move, we can provide you with a full CMA that will give you all the facts you need to price your home correctly.
In September we made our way through some of the inventory that had built up earlier, and that we reported on in last month’s Cameron Park Real Estate Update. Inventory is now down to 4.6 months — twice as much as Orangevale’s 2.3, to be sure, but at least moving away from the “five months plus” we reported in August. Of course, the flip side of getting rid of built up inventory is an ugly showing for days on market, at an average of 53 days as opposed to 29 days on average last September.
The average home in Cameron Park sold for $53,064, a respectable 99% of the average list of $541,453. The median sale price was $511,000. Sale price increased an average of 24.7% since last year, but the increase when adjusted for square footage was 118.5%. The expireds-to-solds ratio for September was 17.5%, a fairly modest number — homes are selling in Cameron Park, it’s simply taking a good deal longer to get it done.
Check out the additional photos on this beautiful home that Linda Riley just listed, built by Stigall, one of our local builders with an outstanding reputation for quality craftsmanship.
This gorgeous country style home in Cameron Park’s desireable Cameron Woods subdivision lets you enjoy the acclaimed Cameron Park school system. It’s a four bedroom, three bath home on over a third of an acre on a cul de sac lot. Check out the full listing details To be among the first buyers to preview this lovely home, why not schedule a showing today?
In Orangevale California in the September, 2005 time frame, the average residence (single family detached, condo, or halfplex or the like) sold for $417,749, or 97.4% of the average list of $429,074. The median sale price this September was $374,500.
The average sale price was 12.9% higher than at the same time last year, though the average size home sold this year was smaller. On a cost per square foot basis, the average sale price increased 14.5% from $223 / square foot last September to $256 / square foot this year.
September’s real estate sales in Orangevale were down somewhat in terms of unit volume, with 85 units sold in September versus 97 in September of 2004. Average days on market were up to 37, from 31 days on average last year. Orangevale’s inventory numbers, however, fared much better (lower) than in other markets, with only 2.3 months of homes in inventory.
We’ve updated the listing pages for the categories below. Enjoy:
In several cases I’ve published only the most recent listings because of the amount of inventory.
Sacramento’s Rosemont area (zip codes 95826 and 95827) put in a good showing in September, with seventy-four residential units. Homes averaged 24 days on market, up slightly from last year’s 20 days, but inventory is fairly low at 3.1 months.
The average home in Rosemont sold at $322,039, or 99.9% of the average list price of $332,535. The median sale price was $332,535.
This year’s average price was a 17.1% increase over last year. Adjusted for a slight increase in square footage this year, the increase in the average price was 14.5% from September to September.
For those of you who just can’t get enough of that good old market data (and I sure hope that’s at least some of you, since I sure publish enough of the darned stuff), I just was surfing the National Association of Realtors® site, and found a really nice collection of economic indicators.
This is one of the cutest homes in Camino, and it puts the lie to the idea that there are no more good first time buyer opportunities in El Dorado County. This is a terrific buy that leaves the valley fog behind.
Perfect for a first time buyer or vacation getaway, this terrific 3 bedroom 2 bath home in Camino is spruced up with designer touches throughout like a woodstove, hearth, wood flooring and crown moulding. This home is nestled among the pines in peaceful Camino, the home of Apple Hill. Check out the full listing details and additional photos.
Everyone who sees this home raves about it, but for some reason it hasn’t yet found the right buyer. Want to see what the fuss is about? Why not schedule a showing of this lovely home?
Freddie Mac released their weekly Primary Market Mortgage Survey yesterday, showing 30-year rates at their highest point since July of 2004. A 30 year fixed rate mortgage averaged 6.10%.
In spite of the rate increases, Freddie Mac’s Vice President was optimistic about the state of the market overall.
“Despite the gradual rise in mortgage rates over the last two months, housing starts were actually up in September highlighting the resiliency of the housing market,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “As a matter of fact, housing directly contributed to real GDP growth of 19 percent in the first quarter of the year and 23 percent in the second quarter. To put this in perspective, this would compare to 17 percent of real GDP growth over all of 2004.
Not surprisingly, housing starts are considered a “leading economic indicator”. An increase in housing starts is said to reflect a healthy real estate market several months in the future.
We’ll be writing some more soon about what we think one should make of the current market and what mistakes both buyers and sellers should avoid as the market changes.
In August we noted looked at South Land Park / Greenhaven real estate market and declared this market still fairly strong — that opinion is unchanged based on September’s numbers. In September of 2005, 43 residential units were sold at an average price of $500,111, or 99.6% of the average list price of $502,117. Unit volume was down somewhat from September of 2004’s 57 units, and days on market were up but not alarming so — 24 days this year on average versus 20 days last year.
As in so many other areas we’ve looked at, the overall higher square footage this year means we have to adjust our raw appreciation numbers. On the face of it, homes are worth 38.8% more in Land Park this September than last, but because last year’s home was only — on average, again — 84% as big as this year’s, a more realistic, adjusted number for appreciation is 16.5% from September to September.
Overall, real estate in Land Park is still selling well. The market is cooler than last year, but not alarmingly so.
September’s real estate sales in Lincoln (95648) were a mixed bag. This year’s unit volume of 89 units was up from last September’s 73 units, but days on market have more than doubled, from 23 days last September to 52 days this September.
The average home sold in Lincoln in September brought $550,149, or 97.7% of the average list price of $563,373. The median sale price was $440,000. Last year at the same time the average sale price was $402,310, but this year’s average home was a good deal larger (2069 square feet as opposed to last year’s 1746 square feet). Adjusted for square footage, the one year appreciation was 15.4%.
With a 52-day average time on market, Lincoln was one of the first local markets we’ve seen where most homes do not sell in their first 30 days — only 48.3% sell in that time frame, and a substantial number (12.4%) are on the market longer than 120 days.
Nevertheless, inventory numbers in Lincoln are comparable to what we’ve seen in other local markets, at 4.4 months worth of inventory.
We’re working with a seller on listing this beautiful 3 bedroom 2.5 bath 1872 square foot home.
It’s in the Westborough subdivision of Natomas, and when it comes on the market (in the next few days), it will be a recommended buy at $459,000, the most inexpensive home in Westborough (except for one much smaller at 1353 square feet).
See the report of active comparables in Westborough (PDF format).
This fabulous and well priced Mediterranean style home was built in 2003, and features a large kitchen, open family room with a romantic but convenient gas fireplace, and a formal dining room.
Showings will be delayed several days while the sellers spruce up the home a bit, so this is a great opportunity to work directly with the listing agent to make sure your showings and your offer are first in line. Call the Real Estate PLUS Team at (877) 735-5657.
We just learned about this terrific opportunity in picturesque Diamond Springs. This is a great location for an in-home business, and the business use permit is already in place. There are two homes on this 6/10 acre property, and plenty of space for an RV. Energy efficient with dual pane windows and propane heat. Kitchen and baths remodeled recently. Mobile on hardship permit, contact county for future status.
For more information or a personalized showing, contact the Real Estate PLUS Team at (877) 735-5657.
As in most local markets we’ve examined, Rocklin real estate in September showed some indications of slowing somewhat, but was still quite strong. Considering both east and west (95677 and 95765), the average home in Rocklin listed for $526,029 and sold for 99% of list at an average sale price of $526,029. The median sale price was $510,000.
The average sale price was 14.4% higher than a year ago. When adjusted for square footage, the increase was only slightly more modest, at 112.4%.
This year’s unit volume was down considerably at 83 units as opposed to last year’s 137. This year’s average home went 27 days from listing to a signed purchase agreement, as opposed to last year’s average of 24 days on market.
September’s market in Fair Oaks gives us less cause for optimism than some other local markets, but not enough bad news yet to feed the bears’ talk of a real estate bubble. On the bad news side, days on market are up significantly, from 30 days last year to 40 this year. Also, total units sold are down, from 75 in September 2004 to 49 in September of 2005. However, inventory numbers are not out of line with other markets, at 4.3 months.
The average Fair Oaks home sold in September was 2007 square feet, listed at 504,139, and sold for 497,565, or 98.7% of list. The median sale price was $469,960. Last September’s average sale price of $414,227 was for a smaller home, at an average of 1834 square feet. Adjusted for size, homes appreciated 11.3% over the period.
During September of 2005, 23 residential units were listed at an average price of ($383,530), and sold for 100% of list ($383,691 - pardon our rounding). The median sale price was $360,000.
As we’ve seen in most (not all) of the other markets that we’ve examined, homes sold in Pollock Pines this year were bigger, on average, than last years. The difference bears a cautionary tale about appreciation statistics. On the face of it, last year’s average sale price of $274,963 seemed to grow by 39.5% to this year’s average of $383,691. But this year’s “average” home sold in September was also some 25% bigger than last year’s. Adjusted for this difference, Pollock Pines turned in an appreciation for the last year of 11.4%, which is exactly in line with what we’ve seen in other markets.
Nicholas Yaholkovsky sends in this weeks Mortgage Market Update. Scroll down a tad and you’ll see all the latest rates. Thanks, Nicholas.
The real estate market Sacramento’s downtown area (95814, 95816) is performing similiarly to other markets we’ve examined in most respects. Surprisingly, however, days on market actually looks better this year than last, with September’s average days on market at 31 days compared to September, 2004’s average of 33 days.
Since inventory downtown is a mix of condos and classic older homes built in the 1910s, 20s, and 40s, the average home in the downtown area is smaller than in other markets. September’s average was 1347 square feet, listed for an average of $509,819 and sold for 96.7% of list, or $493,078.
Appreciation from September 2004 to September 2005 was 15.3%, or, adjusted for slightly smaller homes sold this year, 12.2%.
Eighteen units sold in September, and there were 80 units available for sale as of October 11, comprising 4.4 months of inventory.
I recently took a look at the duplex market for Sacramento County for September.
When we start talking about duplexes, this is a bit of a different beast than what we’ve been dealing with, since duplexes are residential income properties, and all of our market reports before this have involved residences (primarily detached single family homes and condos). Also, there’s a difference in approach, since we’re going to be taking all of Sacramento County together for this report, instead of focusing on a particular area town.
The average duplex sold in Sacramento county in September listed for $427,759 and sold at 99.2% of list, for an average sale price of $424,542. The median sale price was $411,250. Last year at the same time, the average duplex median sale price was $380,000, and the average duplex sale price was $379,665. Taking the average sale price for both periods, we arrive at an 11.2% appreciation over the one year period.
The biggest difference we found between duplexes and other residential income properties on the one hand and the many residential markets we’ve considered on the other is that the inventory numbers are significantly higher on the residential income side. Inventory of residential units typically runs about 3-4 months in most of the areas we’ve studied. As of October 10, duplex inventory was significantly higher, at 5.9 months. What’s more, we found that residential income properties with more units had even higher inventories — 8.3 months for triplexes, 7.6 months for fourplexes, and a full 16.0 months for apartment buildings of 5 or more units.
We’ve published Roseville’s September Real Estate Market Update to our Roseville site. Inventory levels are up for the month.
In August, we reported inventory levels of just over three months (3.1 months). Inventory levels have increased this month to 3.9 months. However, based on fluctuations we’ve seen in other markets, I believe it is too early to generalize based on this increase. If we see continuing increases, and especially if we see consistent levels above five to six months worth, then I think we might have more reason for concern about the state of the market.
According to the
Wall Street Journal, Mortgage Lenders are beginning to tighten the creative standards that gave rise to concerns like those expressed by Alan Greenspan. The Journal reported that Washington Mutual is tightening its qualifying guidelines for its option ARMs, while New Century Financial Corp is reducing the number of interest only loans that it will grant.
Thanks to Verdeo Funding’s Nicholas Yaholkovsky for pointing us to this article. Check out this week’s issue of Nicholas’ Mortgage Market Guide for more recent finance news.
It’s happening again.
This time it was spurred on by Uneasy Rhetoric, who brings us this useful app for determining one’s Lego persona.
Mine is here:
Looking at September’s numbers for Natomas (area code 95835), unit volume was up considerably this year. Eighty residential units were sold this September as against 52 for September of last year. As in other areas, however, homes spent longer on the market this year than last: 30 days on average this year, versus 17 days on average last year.
The average home sold in Natomas in September listed at $497,226 and sold for 99.4% of list, for an average sale price of $494,442. The median sale price in Natomas was $480,000. In September of 2004, in contrast, the average list price was $438,177, the average sale price was $437,039, and the median was $436,500. Thus, the average sale price increased only some 13.1% since last year, but when adjusted for the slightly smaller average square footage this year, the rate of increase was 16.1%.
In terms of inventory, Natomas still seems to be selling fairly well compared to other markets we’ve examined, with only 3.4 months worth of homes in inventory as of 10/6/05.
