Posts Tagged ‘Sacramento County Real Estate’

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update, January, 2011

Opportunity for Home Buyers

Sacramento County real estate market in January 2011 registered growth in sales primarily caused by foreclosures. This growth in sales indicates investor buyers and home owners continue to prefer the Sacramento County real estate. The drop in price also offered a good opportunity to home buyers to go for shopping. Low price of units helped many to found bigger houses within their budget, and this led to an increase in average size of units sold.

Foreclosure Sales Push Up Volume

Sacramento real estate market statistics show 1,343 units were sold in January 2011. This is a big increase compared to conditions a year ago. There were 1,176 units changed hands in January 2010. This 14.2 percent rise is attributed to huge increase in foreclosure sales this January. There were 643 foreclosure sales last month, 130 units more than the last January figures. This 25.3 percent hike in foreclosure sales gives this segment 47.9 percent of total sales volume this January. A year before, foreclosure sales were 43.6 percent of total sales.

Short sales also witnessed growth this January and around a quarter of total sales are from this segment. They went up by 17.8 percent compared to the figures of January last year. There were 337 short sales this January compared to 286 units in January 2010.

Nondistressed sales this January stands at 363 units. This was 14 units less than January 2010 figures. As the price of real estate in Sacramento County continue to remain less than the last year, the decrease in nondistressed sales is understandable. Despite registering 3.2 percent drop in sales, this segment with 27 percent share in total sales in January 2011 stands at second position after foreclosure sales. Nondistressed sales had 32.1 percent share in total sales a year ago.

Moderate Decrease in Price

The increase in foreclosure sales and absence of large number of buyers caused decline of prices in Sacramento real estate market compared to last January. In January 2011, the average price of one square foot was $110.92. This is about 6.8 percent less compared to the $118.99 average per square foot price in January 2010. The drop in average square foot price was big attraction for home buyers. It gave them an opportunity to save money on their purchases. Some home buyer went for bigger homes within their budget. The average size of homes, as a result, went up 2 percent, from 1,612 sq ft in January 2010 to 1,644 sq ft this January.

The average sale price crashed down by $9,447 in a year, from $191,806 last January to $186,353 in January this year. This 4.9 percent deep this year has its impact on the average list price, which shaded $7,002 compared to last January. In January 2011, the average list price was $186,353 compared to $191,806 a year ago. The median sales price took a 3.9 percent beating. It dropped down to $160,000 in January 2011 from $166,500 exactly a year ago. This sharp fall in Sacramento real estate market is due to decrease in prices and simultaneous rise in number of sales.

Inventory Status

The average inventory status for short sales in the past one year was 10.7 months. The inventory status for foreclosures sales was the lowest at 2.1 months. In the past six months, there was slight fall in monthly average sales all segments.

Market Statistics for Sacramento County for January, 2011

The following figures show changes in Sacramento county real estate market in January 2011.

Unit Volume Data

Units Sold January, 2010 January, 2011 Change
Foreclosures Sold 513 643 25.3%
(% of total units) 43.6% 47.9%  
Short Sales Sold 286 337 17.8%
(% of total units) 24.3% 25.1%  
Nondistressed Sold 377 363 -3.7%
(% of total units) 32.1% 27.0%  
Total 1,176 1,343 14.2%

Price Data

Prices January, 2010 January, 2011 Change
Sold Price / Square Foot $118.99 $110.92 -6.8%
Square Feet 1,612 1,644 2.0%
Average List Price $193,355 $186,353 -3.6%
Average Sale Price $191,806 $182,359 -4.9%
Median Sale Price $166,500 $160,000 -3.9%

Inventory (Based on 12 months of prior sales)

Sale Type Average Sales Per Month Active Months of Inventory
All Sales 1,544 7,232 4.7
Foreclosures 631 1,320 2.1
Short Sales 371 3,960 10.7
Nondistressed 544 1,958 3.6

Inventory (Based on 6 months of prior sales)

Sale Type Average Sales Per Month Active Months of Inventory
All Sales 1476 7,232 4.9
Foreclosures 626 1,320 2.1
Short Sales 356 3,960 11.1
Nondistressed 496 1,958 3.9

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update, December 2010

Encouraging Trend for Buyers

Sacramento County real estate market update in December 2010 presents an opportunity for those looking for long-term investment in this picturesque county. The volume of houses sold in December is up, considering the same situation one year ago. The prices are lesser than what they were in December last year. The overall changes are moderate, and there is not any big gap in the volume and prices in December this year compared to the same time last year.

Moderate Increase in Volume

Sacramento real estate market has witnessed an increase in the number of units sold in December 2010. The total number of houses sold stands at 1,644 compared to 1,548 exactly one year ago. This 6.2 percent rise is moderate and mainly attributed to climbing foreclosure sales. Following the November 2010 trends, the total number of foreclosures sold has gone up by 16.6 percent, which constitute 45 percent of total units sold. There were 634 foreclosures sold in December last year. In December 2010, this number went up to 739. This noticeable increase, however, is not visible in short sales and nondistressed sales, which together constitute 55 percent of the total Sacramento real estate business.

Short sales constitute 22.6 percent of the total units sold in December 2010. However, statistics show a slight decrease of 2.1 percent compared to the available data of December last year. It stands at 371 this December compared to 379 same time last year. Sacramento County real estate nondistressed sales statistics has almost remained the same. Though there is just 0.2 percent or one unit difference between the two years, the share nondistressed sales in total units sold has come down by 4.1 percent.

Slight Decrease in Prices

The price of real estate in Sacramento County has gone down compared to December last year. Though the price remained the same as they were a month ago, there is moderate decline compared to the price one year ago. The price of per square feet witnessed a decrease amounting to 6.6 percent, from $122.94 a year ago to $114.78 at present. However, the decline in average size of homes is nominal, 1,680 sq ft in December 2009 and 1,674 sq ft in December 2010. There has been more than 5 percent slump in both average list price and average sale price. You can also notice decline in median sale price despite increase in volume. It has gone down by 6 percent, from $180,000 in December last year to $169,250 this December.

Inventory Status

Foreclosure sales continue to have the lowest inventory average of 2.4 months. However, average months to get through the inventory have increased somewhat for short sales and nondistressed sales in the past six months. Short sales have to go through 12-month inventory listing.

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Statistics for December, 2010

The following data in tabular form presents a quick review of trends of Sacramento real estate market in December 2010 compared to that of December 2009.

Unit Volume Data

Units Sold December, 2009 December, 2010 Change
Foreclosures Sold 634 739 16.6%
(% of total units) 41.0% 45.0%  
Short Sales Sold 379 371 -2.1%
(% of total units) 24.5% 22.6%  
Nondistressed Sold 535 534 -0.2%
(% of total units) 34.6% 32.5%  
Total 1548 1644 6.2%

Price Data

Prices December, 2009 December, 2010 Change
Sold Price / Square Foot $122.94 $114.78 -6.6%
Square Feet 1680 1676 -0.3%
Average List Price $207,480 $196,650 -5.2%
Average Sale Price $206,634 $192,436 -6.9%
Median Sale Price $180000 $169250 -6.0%

Inventory (Based on 12 months of prior sales)

Sale Type Average Sales Per Month Active Months of Inventory
All Sales 1530 7773 5.1
Foreclosures 620 1461 2.4
Short Sales 367 4229 11.5
Nondistressed 546 2093 3.8

Inventory (Based on 6 months of prior sales)

Sale Type Average Sales Per Month Active Months of Inventory
All Sales 1473 7773 5.3
Foreclosures 608 1461 2.4
Short Sales 351 4229 12.0
Nondistressed 516 2093 4.1

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update – October, 2010

Here it is the beginning of November, and as usual at the beginning of the month we can start to look backward at the previous month of sales and tell you how things are going.  This is one of those economies where one looks at a set of data – house price loss, job loss, or what have you – and what passes for optimism is usually captured in the phrase “less severe than expected”.   It’s not that the not that the news is routinely good yet – we can all get out our crystal balls and pretend we know the answer to that one.  Instead, the news is less bad than we’ve sometimes seen it in recent memory.

So let me start with that.  Compared to many periods we’ve looked at since the turn of the market in 2005 and 2006, the losses we see from October 2009 to October 2010 were “less severe than expected” for Sacramento County.   Unit volume was down 16.2% from year to year, from 1711 units sold in October, 2009 to 1434 units sold in October, 2010.  Most of this decline was in the number of short sales and non-distressed sales, dropping 18.9% and 18.8%, respectively, while the number of short sales sold dropped only slightly, 6.1%.  As a result, short sales made up a larger percentage of overall sales volume this year, not buy much (21% of total sales last year versus 23.5% this year).  Short sales still account for less than a quarter of overall homes sold even though they make up more than half of our inventory, probably because most buyers get tired of waiting the three months, six months, or more for an overworked beaurocrat in a bank to open their file.

Home prices also fell from October to October, though very slightly compared to the overall volume.  Average sold price per square foot was down 2.5% during this time, from $121.86 in 2009 to $118.80 in 2010.  The average price fell 1.3% from year to year, from $200,576 last October to $197,949 this October  Meantime the median sale price fell a bit more sharply, from $179,900 last year to $170,000 this year (5.5%).

As a result of the decline in sales and the large backlog of unsold short sales (13 months of short sale inventory), overall inventory numbers have been creeping up.  Currently we’re at 6.2 months of inventory, or at the beginning of what is technically a “buyer’s market”.  Yes, I know, it feels like we’ve been there awhile, hasn’t it, but the arbitrary cut-off many author’s use to tell the difference is 6 months of inventory.  As we move into winter, we expect inventory to continue to increase slightly, meaning more and more choices for buyers.  Many of those choices are going to be short sales, however, so what this means for a buyer is that you should plan on looking and starting to write offers as much as three to six months or more before you’re planning to move.  You should also consider getting bank-preapproved for a loan, especially to help you take advantage of the small number of REOs in inventory (currently 2.6 months of inventory).  Be prepared for a “no” or two in this market, too, because you’ll be competing with cash buyers.

Sacramento County Real Estate Market Update

Greetings, market statistics fans!  Straighten up those pocket protectors and hang on to your slide rules, because it’s time once again for us to catch up on our REM sleep with yet another thrilling installment of our never-ending saga:  Sacramento (County) Real Estate Market Updates!

And the crowds went wild.

The good news:  905 units sold in February, up some ten per cent from January.  Unit volume was even up marginally from last February — and, yes, this still holds true when you adjust for the leap year.  February’s unit volume was the highest since last July, when 977 units sold.

The average home sold for $273,603 in February, up slightly over January’s average of $269,301, but down 29.9% from last February’s average sale price of $390,043.  The median sale price of $249,000 was down 29.2% from last February’s median of $353,000.  Sold price per square foot is down 28.8% from February to February, at $162.76 this year versus $228.63 last year.

The 905 units that sold in February is not bad for a late winter month where the average over the preceding twelve months was 968 units per month.  Currently there are 9,866 homes on the market, which works out to be 10.2 months of inventory.  33.9% of the homes in active inventory are short sales, but as we’ve reported earlier and a variety of our colleagues in other markets have reported since, the closing rate for short sales is much lower, at 6.6% in February.  Bank foreclosures (REOs), in contrast, make up 28% of the current active inventory (2,763 of the 9,866 available units), but in February they accounted for 59.2% of the homes that sold in Sacramento County (542 out of 905 total sales).

Sacramento Area Foreclosures, Short Sales, Condos, etc. etc.

We’ve updated our listings database.  It was getting pretty long in the tooth there.

Most people who are users of our web site(s) probably don’t know it, but many of our web sites including this one, our Roseville real estate site and our Elite Properties company site actually rely on two different databases of listings.  When you use our search page, for example, you’re using a listings database that’s our IDX company gets from our Metrolist database.  These listings are updated daily, so when you do a search, you’re looking at listings that are within twenty-four hours of being as current as the ones that we as Realtors® can look at..

In addition to the search tools that our IDX company provides, however, we also wanted to allow you to browse for certain types of listings.  One thing our IDX system doesn’t do, for example, is show you short sales and foreclosures.  Because we don’t have direct access to the database our IDX company uses, we’ve created a second database that we can use in various ways.

For example, our foreclosure search page lets you search for foreclosures and short sales, or browse them by county.  Similarly our new homes section let’s you see homes that have just been built that are listed in the MLS, and our condo pages contain links to condos grouped by price and county.

As we mentioned above, we’ve also used this database on some of our other sites.  Many clients find us through our the maps of listings by zip code that we maintain on our company site.  These maps include zip codes in El Dorado County, Placer County, and Sacramento County.  Within each zip code you can find active listings and get recent market data.  We publish similar data for Placer County only on our Roseville site.

Unlike our IDX system, which is updated automatically on a daily basis, these other resources are updated manually as time permits.

We realize that from a software perspective, that’s not the brightest way to do it.  But if you’ve ever tried to get someone from Metrolist to call you back about a data feed, you probably have a good idea that it’s not half-dumb from an organizational perspective.

The good news is, it’s up to date now.  So as my wife is fond of saying, “Get your red hot houses here!”

Enjoy.

Sacramento Real Estate Median Sale Prices

Well, it’s that time of the month again, when all the real estate bloggers race to publish the latest real estate statistics based on what happened last month.  The October numbers are still trickling in, so I’ll publish a full market report in a day or two, but meantime I thought I’d whet your appetite with a chart.

This one shows median prices for residential real estate in Sacramento County, according to MLS data. 

(Chart the chart for a larger version).

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