Sacramento lands on list of improving housing markets - Sacramento Business Journal

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From the Sacramento Business Journal :http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2012/09/12/sacramentohome-sales-prices-market.html

Sacramento lands on list of improving housing markets

Sacramento Business Journal by Sanford Nax, Staff Writer Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2012, 1:50pm PDT

Sanford Nax Staff Writer- Sacramento Business Journal Email | Twitter | LinkedIn Home sales and prices continued their upward momentum last month as Sacramento was added to a national list of improving housing markets. A total of 202 new houses were sold in the four-county region last month as low interest rates and tight supply of existing homes drove buyers to new subdivisions, the North State Building Industry Association reported. The 202 homes represented a 47 percent increase from August 2011, but were down 40.6 percent from July. Builders say that sales often dip in August because families focus on vacations and preparations for going back to school. The performance was good enough for the National Association of Home Builders and First American Title Company to add Sacramento to their list of improving housing markets. The list totaled 80 metro areas in August, but this week grew to 99 with the addition of Sacramento and 18 other metropolitan regions. According to the index, housing permits in the Sacramento region are up 7.1 percent from their bottom in June 2011. Meanwhile, new-home prices are up 2.4 percent and employment is up 2.8 percent from their respective lows. The president of the National Association of Home Builders is optimistic. This solid growth is an encouraging sign that housing continues on a slow but steady recovery path that is gradually advancing from one local market to the next, said Barry Ruttenberg, a builder from Florida.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2012/09/12/sacramento-home-sales-prices-...

9/12/2012

Sacramento lands on list of improving housing markets - Sacramento Business Journal

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Meanwhile, the resale market in the capital region is flourishing. The median price of a used home in Sacramento County and the city of West Sacramento climbed 5.6 percent from July and 12 percent from August 2011. Total sales increased 5.2 percent from July and 0.8 percent from the year-earlier period. The supply of homes for sale remained tight with less than a month of inventory. That is a decrease of nearly 61 percent from August 2011, according to figures from the Sacramento Association of Realtors. Some regions, of course, are faring better than others. The $287,500 median price tag in Fair Oaks last month was a significant jump from $247,500 a year earlier. The $343,625 median price in Folsom was up $31,000 from August 2011, and Elk Groves 95758 zip code carried a median price of $208,000, a sharp increase from $179,000 a year earlier. Gains were less impressive in Citrus Heights -- from a median of $165,000 in August 2011 to $177,750 a year later. As prices increase, foreclosure sales are diminishing - they represented 16.6 percent of all sales in August compared with 37.5 percent a year ago -- while the percentage of short sales and conventional transactions increase. Traditional sales accounted for 48.5 percent of all transactions in Sacramento County and West Sacramento last month, up from 38.5 percent a year previous, the association reported. Industry veteran Pat Shea of Lyon Real Estate described buyer activity as relentless. Multiple offers are the norm, more than a third of all deals are cash and the feared next wave of foreclosures is looking more like a trickle, said Shea, who is president of the regions largest residential realty agency. He said more lenders prefer using the short-sale process, which allows homeowners to stay in the homes while a sale is negotiated. I am convinced we have turned the corner, Shea said in an interview. I am very comfortable saying there will not be a flood of REOs. Sanford Nax covers real estate, planning, development, construction and economic issues for the Sacramento Business Journal.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2012/09/12/sacramento-home-sales-prices-...

9/12/2012