More price stability but lesser people shopping for a home. As elsewhere in Sacramento county, the same mantra is true for East Sacramento as well. Just 30 homes sold in the East Sac area, an overall unit volume decrease of 34.8% year over year. The most marked change was in the category of foreclosure sales which fell by 50% year over year followed by non-distressed sales which fell 36.4% for the same period. Short sales remained fairly stable.

Not only were home buyers not looking a lot, the closed escrows seem to suggest that they were also interested in smaller homes. The average home sold in East Sacramento was 11.1% smaller this July than last July. This fact is reflected in the average sales price which fell 7.8% year over year from a high of $290,946 to rest at $268,335. The more accurate figure is the average price per square foot which rose 3.8% year over year from $212.07 to $220.07. Median sales price fell 2.7% for the same period. It is currently $253,000.

East Sacramento is just shy of 6 months of real estate inventory.

Homebuyers didn’t seem as interested in buying houses in East Sacramento this month as they usually are. Just 28 homes sold in the entire month of June in the area as compared with 41 a year ago. That’s a unit volume decrease of 31.7% year over year. Foreclosures alone fell 66.7% year over year in sales followed by non-distressed sales which fell 22.2% for the same period. Short sales remained mostly unchanged in number as last June – 3 this June as compared with 2 the last.

Average price per square foot is now $230.61, which is now up 7.1% year over year from $215.40. Homebuyers still preferred houses on average 2.5%. However, average sales price remained above the $300,000 mark at $301,693. That was an overall increase year over year of 4.4% from $289,099. Median sales price is currently $291,000 down 6.1% for the same period from the high of $310,000.

Inventory in East Sacramento is at 5 and a half months. Foreclosure inventory still hovers around 2 months.

It’s been a while since we took a look at our favorite real estate market – East Sacramento. The last time we took a look in the month of February the market was busy on its road to some sort of stability and recovery. I’m happy to report that it seems fairly stable and recovering still.

46 homes sold in this last month, an overall unit volume decline of 11.5% year over year. Foreclosure sales alone fell 62% for the same period while short sales and non-distressed property received buyer interest to rise 60% and 15.4% respectively year over year. 65.2% of all sales are now non-distressed up from just 50% of all sales last May.

Average price per square foot has risen to $232.13 – up 6.8% year over year from a low of $217.45. Average sales price has also gone up from $288,529 to $303,203. That’s a rise of 8.1% since last May. Median sales price has jumped 19% in the same period from $250,000 to $297,450.

Real estate inventory in East Sacramento is now at 4.6 months based on the last year of sales and 5.1 months based on the last six months of sales.

24 homes sold in East Sacramento in the month of February, a decline of 20% year over year in unit volume. Foreclosure sales fell 28.6% and short sales also fell 83.3% for the same period. Correspondingly, non-distressed sales are up by 30% year over year. The biggest change is that now 54.2% of homes sold are non-distressed, as compared with 33.3% last February.

Average price per square foot rose 16.4% year over year in the area to rest at $202.23 up from $173.71 last February. Average sales price is also 21.9% higher at $254,154. A year ago, it was $208,463. Median price interestingly enough has fallen 29% to rest at $165,000 down from $232,500 a year ago.

East Sacramento has 3.9 months of inventory based on the last year of sales and 4.7 months of inventory based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is right around one month. Short sale inventory is at 14.6 months based on the last year of sales and 18 months based on the last six months of sales.

26 homes sold in the East Sacramento area this last month, an overall unit volume dip year over year by about 13.3%. This dip has been largely the result of foreclosure sales dropping – just 8 REOs closed escrow in December as compared with 17 a year ago. Also, more than half of all sales – 53.8% are now non-distressed sales, a fact that is helping the price recovery in East Sacramento. Non-distressed sales rose by 40% year over year.

Prices have risen 36.2% year over year! No, that is not a typo. Average price per square foot has gone from $148.04 last December to $201.62 in December of 2009. East Sacramentans must have had a really jolly Christmas! Perhaps as a reaction to this price increase, homebuyers have purchased homes on average 8.5% smaller than they did last year at this time. Average sales price reflects that decrease in the size of the home, showing a 24.6% increase year over year from $175,992 to currently $219,298. Median sales price is now $239,500.

Inventory is at 3 months based on the last year of sales and 3.3 months based on the last six months of sales.

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.

No, I’m not imagining it. There really has been price appreciation in East Sacramento. And not just the month to month kind, but the year to year kind, the kind that is considered more dependable. East Sacramento functions pretty much like a textbook area in real estate – the number of foreclosures and short sales drop and we begin to see price appreciation.

There has been an 81% drop year over year in foreclosure sales and a 50% drop in short sales. On the other hand, homebuyers have pushed non-distressed sales up by 114.3% for the same period. Although this has dropped unit volume to 7.7% lower than it was a year ago, the difference in the number of homes sold (as compared with the stats) hasn’t been that remarkable: 36 sold this September as opposed to 39 last September.

And the prices! Average sold price per square foot is now $247.51 up 30% from $190.40 a year ago. Average sales price is now $357,828 a jump of 67% from a year ago’s price of $214,285. Median sales price is currently $327,250. Of course, homebuyers have also bought homes 28.5% bigger on average (go figure!) so the more accurate measure of home prices is the price per square foot. Even then, there seems cause to rejoice.

Inventory is at 3.9 months based on the last year of sales and 3.7 months based on the last six months of sales.

A renewed interest in homes in East Sacramento has buoyed the sales market there. Overall unit volume was 12.2% higher than it was last July even when foreclosure sales fell by 16.7% year over year. Non-distressed properties sales gained by 27% for the same period. There was no change in short sales. Now 72% of all sales are non-distressed sales, higher than last July’s number of 63% of all sales.

Average sold price per square foot has yet to recover however. It is currently $212.07 which is 11.5% lower year over year from a high of $239.55. Average sales price is now $290,946 down 5.1% from last July’s $306,459. Median price rests at $260,000. However, since homes sold this July were also 7.2% bigger on average, the more accurate figure here is the average sold price per square foot.

inventory in east Sacramento is at 3.9 months based on the last year of sales and 3.7 months based on the last six months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.6 months.

Foreclosures are drying up in East Sacramento. Year over year, we see a drop of 43% in foreclosure sales along with an increase in non-distressed sales of 35%. This has led to the tables turning from last June when 53% of all sales were distress sales to this June where 66% of all sales are now non-distressed. Overall unit volume is down by 4.7% for the same period.

For all this news however, prices haven’t fared that much better. Average price per square foot is currently $215.40 – a few dollars lower than last month and 6.8% lower year over year from a high of $231.12. Average sales price is $289,099 down 11.8% from last June’s high of $327,834. But the more accurate representation of the market is the average price per square foot since homes that sold this June were also 5.4% smaller. Median sales price is at $310,000.

Inventory in east Sacramento is at 3.7 months no matter how you look at it. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.6 months.

Since we last took a look at East Sacramento, prices are faring quite a bit better, but let’s get to that in a bit. First, let’s look at unit volume. A total of 52 homes sold in the area in May, an overall unit volume increase of 57.6% year over year. Of these 21 were foreclosures, 5 were short sales and 26 were non-distressed sales. Overall, sales are perfectly balanced between distressed and non-distressed properties. Foreclosures have gained 133.3% year over year, but non-distressed property sales have gained slightly as well over last May – 13% overall.

Sold price per square foot looks quite a bit better than it did last September when it was at $190.40. It is currently at $217.45, a drop however year over year of 6.5%. Average sales price currently rests at $280,382 and median price at $250,000. Year over year, average sales price is down by 11% and median price is down ay 26.3%.

Inventory in East Sacramento is at 3.8 months based on the last 12 months of sales and 3.9 months based on the last 6 months of sales. Foreclosure inventory is at 0.7 months no matter how you look at it.

This is pretty depressing – throughout the recent fall in home prices, Realtors® and some homeowners have taken heart in the East Sacramento market. Unfortunately, East Sacramento (zip codes 95817 and 95819) seems to have faced some bad weather in September along with the rest of Sacramento county.

It’s easy to tell where the storm is coming from: foreclosures. Compared to last year in September when only 2 foreclosures sold, this September 21 closed escrow. This September also tipped the scale toward the foreclosures in that most sold listings (53%) were foreclosures. To offer a contrast with last September, we have only to know that 91.3% of all units sold then were non-distressed sales.

The sold price per square foot dropped 35.9% over last September to $190.40 – average sales price dropped a whopping 48.4% over last September to end at $214,285.

In the more interesting news: the average sold listing was 1125 sq. ft. this September as compared with 1395 sq. ft. last year, suggesting perhaps that people are buying smaller homes – about 300 feet smaller.

Does real estate have “fun facts” — or is it just arcane trivia?   Well, either way:  did you know that — along with downtown — East Sacramento boasts the highest sold price per square foot of any local area, including Granite Bay and El Dorado Hills?

Up until recently, this fairly pricey community seemed immune to the price erosion in the rest of the area.  In the last few months, however, we’ve sometimes had to report price drops for East Sac.

In July, for example, the average sold price per square foot in East Sac was $324.61, down 12.5% from last July’s average of $370.84.  This year’s average East Sac home was about 1557 square feet in size and sold for $505,656.  This average selling price was down 7.3% from last July’s average of $545,422.

With homes in East Sacramento selling for more than twice the price of homes in surrounding communities, demand for homes in East Sac has slackened from last year, with unit volume down 33.3%.  While most areas have seen huge demand and falling inventory fueled by bargain foreclosure prices, East Sac’s inventory has actually risen over time.

The real estate market in East Sacramento rallied somewhat in June.  The average home sold in East Sac in June for $574,158, up 8.2% over last year’s average of $530,568.  Sold price per square foot was down 10.3%, however, from $373.14 in June of 2007 to $334.79 in June of 2008.   The news is not all grim, however, since June’s figure has increased since May, when sold price per square foot came in at $299.79.

Non-distressed sales continued to predominate in East Sac, accounting for 77.8% of all sales in June.  In active inventory, short sales and foreclosures make up about 11% of the 97 available homes in East Sacramento.

East Sacramento is not a huge area, so few homes sell in the best of times.  However, unit sales are definitely down this year, with eighteen homes selling in June versus 19 the year before.  Moreover, average sales over the last six months have been more sluggish than over the last year, at thirteen units on average versus sixteen, respectively.  Inventory, which was low when we reported on it last year, is now up to about 7.1 months.

Related Articles:

East Sacramento Real Estate Market (Update for May 2008)

First Quarter 2008 East Sacramento Real Estate Market

In 2007, East Sacramento behaved like a beautiful seller’s market oasis in the desert of short sales, foreclosures, and falling prices.  So far this year, I’m sorry to say that this lovely oasis has turned out to be something of a mirage, as East Sac has begun to behave in many respects like the arid landscape surrounding it.

In the first quarter, the average home sold in East Sacramento for $447,050, down 11.9% from last year’s first quarter average of $507,391.  With this year’s home being slightly larger, sold price per square foot dropped 14.9% during this time.  The median sale price dropped 1.6% during this period, from $421,900 to $415,000. 

There are, however, two reasons to expect that East Sac may return to the verdant paradise we were reporting on last year.  The first is that homes are selling faster this year than last by about a third, with average days on market at 42 days this year as opposed to 63 days last year.  In addition, inventory remains low in East Sac at 3.8 months, but of course keeping it low means sales will need to pick up in April and May.