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Tuesday, February 16th, 2010A seasonally normal decrease in home sales signaled the open of the 2010 Sacramento real estate market.
The 1,159 home sales in January are a 29.7% decrease from the 1,648 sales of December. The trend continued year-to-year, showing a 24.8% decrease from the 1,542 sales of January 2009. The winter months affected the distribution of types of sales, with bank-owned properties making up 44.4% of the 1,159 sales. This is up 3.7% from the previous month. Short sales decreased by .9% (to 23.6% of sales) and conventional sales dropped by 3.4% (32% of sales). Many homeowners take their properties off the market during slow winter months while bank-owned and short sale properties remain to maximize activity.
The current median sales price of $170,000 is .6% higher than the $169,000 median price of January 2009. Month-to-month, the median price dropped 9.3% from $187,500, likely reflective of the many REO and short sale properties remaining on the market. According to the January MLS summary, nearly 31% of all homes sold were between $120,000 – $179,999, while 26.8% sold for $200,000 – $249,999.
“Inventory for buyers is lower than the numbers indicate, because homes listed as active short sale contingent aren’t really available,” Barbara Harsch, SAR President, commented. Active Short Sale Contingent properties are short sale properties on which initial offers have been made. SAR is now breaking out “Active Short Sale Contingent” in the listing inventory. When split from the total number, these properties number 2,224, making up 41.3% of all “active” listings. The total listing inventory decreased slightly (.8%) month-to-month from 5,425 to 5,379. This is a 9.4% decrease from the 5,935 listing inventory of January 2009.
The Housing Market Supply figure increased 39.4% month from 3.3 to 4.6 Months. This figure is 21.8% below the Housing Market Supply figure of January 2009. This figure represents the amount of time – in months – it would take to deplete the total listing inventory given the current rate of sales. According to MetroList® MLS data, the average home spent 54 days on market (from the time it was listed to the time escrow was opened) and was 1,657 square feet. Of the 1,159 sales this month, 125 (10.7%) had 2 bedrooms or fewer, 601 (51.8%) had 3 bedrooms, 335 (28.9%) were 4 bedroom properties and 98 properties (8.4%) had 5+ bedrooms.
Condominium Resale Market
Sacramento condominium sales decreased 25.4% from 114 last month to 85 this month. Compared with last year, sales are up 4.9% from the 81 units sold in January 2009. REO properties made up 54.1% (46) of all sales while short sales accounted for 24.7% (21) of the sales. Conventional sales rounded out the remainder of the total, accounting for 21.2% or 18 sales. The condominium median sales price decreased 15% month-to-month from $100,000 to $85,000. This current price is down 10.5% from the $95,000 median sales price of January 2009. The total listing inventory increased 1.2% month-to-month from 513 listings to 519 listings. Of these 519 listings, 214 (41.2%) were listed as Active Short Sale Contingent.
More detailed reports are available to members through the SAR REALTORS® Only section
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