New Reports on Sacramento Real Estate

There were articles in the Bee the past two days that are worth reading if you are interested in our local real estate market.

“A cold October for home prices” is the monthly article by Jim Wasswerman about the sales and median prices for some of our local communities. It reports Placer County had the largest decline in median price with a drop of 13.3 percent from October 2005. Real estate agents, home builders and other analysts have attributed falling median prices to increasing sales of less expensive condos and small-lot homes, a binge of home builder discounts and greater sales activity at the cheaper end of the resale home market.

The article published in the Bee yesterday, “Housing outlook called sluggish” is a report on an economist from the California Association of Realtors meeting with local agents. He said the Sacramento area's residential real estate market is likely to remain sluggish for another year, with a "very good chance" of turning the corner in 2008. He also indicated a healthy economy and stable interest rates should prevent any chaotic downturn in coming months.

When reading these articles keep in mind there is always a pullback during the last quarter of the year. Sellers do withdraw their homes from the market as they prepare for the holidays and that even more so this year because of the large supply of inventory.

The other item to remember is that median sales prices in Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties actually increased in October from the previous month. While I don’t believe a one month increase is a trend it could be signaling, as I have said before, some stabilization in the market.