January shows decreased activity, median price remains higher than year ago
A seasonally normal decrease in home sales signaled the open of the 2010 Sacramento real estate market as the Sacramento Association of Realtors released the latest data.
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.
Doug's Take: Well, i've been saying it for months and waiting for it to happen. Now that we have bottomed out (remember we bottomed out in February 2009), we are going to have a bumpy ride along the bottom here. Also, i've been mentioning that the winter months typically slow things down. So i don't think it's too much of a surprise that our median price dipped a bit as well as the sales amount declined. What is probably the best news for most buyers in the market right now is that the inventory has gone up a bit. However, that's mostly because the rate of sales declined. At any rate, i would expect more of the same bouncing around of the median price for the next few months. Remember the end of the tax credit is approaching. Have to get an accepted offer by the end of April and close escrow by the end of June. Up to $8,000 for first time buyers, and up to $6,500 for "move up buyers" who have lived in their current residence for 5 consecutive years out of the last 8. Multiple offers on well priced homes within a few days is still common. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm here to help and now is the time to get your house on the market if you are thinking about selling soon.
clear skies,
doug
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