Local Housing Market Staying Strong

February and mid-March pending sale numbers show excellent momentum

Buyers are back to snapping up homes at a rapid pace as 2,261 homes were placed under contract during the month of February. That number reflected a sizable 26 percent increase versus January and a healthy 16 percent lift from a busy February of last year.

Mid-March numbers demonstrate that momentum has yet to be impacted by national health matters as new pending sales were up 21 percent versus those posted on February 15. This market information was presented by Lyon Real Estate based upon data provided by Trendgraphix Inc., a Sacramento-based reporting company.

“Serious health concerns and all of the requisite responses are certainly impacting the lives of every citizen, academic institution, business entity, etc.,” says Pat Shea, president of Lyon Real Estate. “Yet, rock-solid employment numbers, favorable mortgage programs and rates, excellent values in our housing stock and strong overall consumer confidence in Northern California has maintained housing market activity to date. It will be interesting to see what develops over the next 30 to 60 days but this too shall pass. Year-end totals in 2020 will surely reflect another banner year for greater Sacramento real estate even though it may be through a circuitous path.”

Market-wide, inventory at the end of February rested at 2,622 homes active and available for sale. Although the supply level marked a 3 percent lift versus January, it was an extraordinary 28 percent fall off from one year ago at this time. At mid-March however, new listings are on the rise and total inventory is now 20 percent higher than that available on February 15.  Based upon the renewed rate of buyer activity however, there is currently a mere 1.2 months of inventory available on the market. This is the lowest in the past three years.

Further analysis of new open escrows and supply by price range revealed some additional color. The entry-level or homes below $400,000 is currently left with a very scarce, less than 1 month of supply remaining.  The move-up market — homes priced between $400,000 and $750,000 — isn’t much better, with only 1.2 months of inventory. New open escrows for homes priced above $750,000 has also increased notably over the past few months, leaving less than three months of supply. Accordingly, all price points are largely considered to be in historically tight market conditions.

Closed sales remained relatively flat and similar in the first two months of the year.  February numbers were actually 4 percent lower than those of last year. This data heavily reflects the dramatic falloff in new open escrows reported during November and December. Closed sales will surely start popping in the coming months due to the now elevated, rate of new open escrows.

The average sales price across the region for the month of February rested at $472,000. That number was 6.5 percent greater than last year at this time and topped the market-wide average of $467,000 for the past six months.  Homes that closed escrow in February received approximately 98 percent of original list price and were on the market an average of 45 days. All of these metrics reflected improvements over last year.

About TrendGraphix, Inc.

TrendGraphix, Inc. is a real estate reporting company based in Sacramento that uses local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data to provide highly visual market statistical graphs to real estate brokers, agents, and MLS/Realtor associations across the country. TrendGraphix’s programs are currently used by tens of thousands of agents in more than 250 brokerages in 48 states. For more information about TrendGraphix, visit www.trendgraphix.com.