Greater Sacramento Resale Homes Sizzle

MARKET UPDATE

$750,000+ sales see highest volume since 2007

The resale home market in Greater Sacramento continued to sizzle through the month of May, according to information provided by Trendgraphix Inc., a Sacramento-based reporting company, and reported by Lyon Real Estate. Specifically, 8,710 new open escrows and 7,321 closed sales over the past three months represent the area’s strongest production activity since the summer of 2011.

“The move-up and upper-end markets have joined the entry level at a record setting pace, making our region a Triple Crown winner for home sales this year,” says Pat Shea, president of Lyon Real Estate. Robust sales activity in all price points pushed May’s closed median price to $335,000. This is the highest median posted since the fall of 2007 and the tail end of non-existent lending standards.

Activity below the $350,000 price point remained frantic with 6,189 new open or pending sales logged for the past three months and inventory 20 percent less than this time last year. The move-up range, between $350,000 and $750,000, enjoyed its best quarterly run since the summer of 2006 with 3,468 new open escrows and ended the month with slightly more than two months of inventory available.

New open escrows in the upper end, often viewed as the $750,000 and above price range, logged in at 372 for the past three months, the highest volume since the summer of 2007. Notably, inventory in the upper-end and move-up markets is currently 50 percent lower than that available during the 2006 and 2007 sales comparisons.

Shea states that “all key market indicators reflect that both first-time and move-up buyers will remain very busy through the summer. The number of active and available homes in all price points is significantly lower than traditional standards and recent history. The region’s median still remains 20 percent below the market peak in the summer of 2005, even with much tighter lending standards. Home values in the Greater Sacramento Region remain exceptional and people get it.”