Distressed Properties Continue to Account for Vast Majority of Sonoma County Home Sales
The first quarter home sales figures are now available and we will take a more in-depth at them later this week, but I thought I would point out this article in today’s Press Democrat newspaper, which reported the latest home sales figures as presented at the Santa Rosa Realtor’s breakfast this morning by Rick Laws of Coldwell Banker. Rick uses data from the Bay Area Real Estate Information Services Multiple Listings, which is the same source I use for the reports I produce every month. (NOTE: Until this data was available to me, Rick kindly shared it with me every months when he was my broker at Coldwell Banker. We like to geek out on this data in an attempt to understand market trends ahead of the curve. Thanks Rick!)
Rick took a look at the percentage of distressed property (euphemistically called “bank-influenced”) sales, which refer to short sales and REO’s or foreclosed properties. The data show at price ranges up to $1 Million, that the percentage that distressed properties make in the market is still very high, but declining as compared to the market bottom of Q1 2009. That is probably because buyers are coming out of the woodwork at the mid and upper ranges, and also because “normal” sellers (that is how agents refer to them in MLS comments!) have probably realized that now is as good a time as any to sell, that prices may have stabilized and we are not likely to see significant appreciation for some time. Also, they may realize it is good to sell when rates are down and buyer tax credits are in place. Inventory continues to be VERY tight and sales are up significantly.
It is also interesting to note that distressed sales now make up 17% of sales above $ 1 million dollars, where as there were no distressed sales at that price range a year ago. There were also very few sales over a million a year ago! Stay tuned for more later this week and feel free to call me or email with your questions or comments.
Bank “Influenced” Sales as a Percentage of Total Sales
Condominiums Q1 2009 88% Q1 2010 65%
SFR under $500,000 Q1 2009 82% Q1 2010 59%
SFR $500K to $1Million Q1 2009 42% Q1 2010 29%
SFR $1M to $10M Q12009 0% Q1 2010 17%
