Sonoma County home sales, prices slip in November
Published: Friday, December 11, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, December 11, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.
Sonoma County home prices slipped slightly in November but remained well off the lows hit earlier this year before bargains hunters swooped in and devoured the supply of homes.
The median price of a single-family home dropped to $356,000 in November, down 1 percent from October but still 10 percent higher than the same time last year, according to the monthly Press Democrat home sales report prepared by Rick Laws of Coldwell Banker in Santa Rosa.
The pace of sales slowed somewhat to 362 homes in November, 15 percent off October’s sales but down just 2 percent compared to last November.
“Demand and supply have pretty much come into balance here, especially at the bottom of the market,” Laws said. “Inventories have been beaten into submission.”
Low inventories have resulted in the fewer sales, he said.
“If we had the inventory, we’d be able to sell it, but we don’t,” he said.
The number of houses for sale fell nearly 16 percent for the month to 1,254. That’s a dramatic 47 percent drop from the 2,578 homes for sale this time last year.
The buying frenzy that the market saw over the spring and summer ate into the supply of homes, but other factors contributed. Many brokers believe banks are holding back foreclosed homes from the market to prevent prices from falling further, Laws said.
When this “shadow inventory” will appear is anyone’s guess.
“We were told that some were going to hit the market in November, and we just didn’t see them,” said Laurie Walter, a real estate broker with Prudential California office in Sebastopol.
Agents who had six listings in the summer are down to one or two, said Walter, who recently completed several sales and has no active listings.
She does, however, have indications that banks are improving the way they handle short sales. Walter has a buyer whose offer on a home near Santa Rosa’s McDonald neighborhood was accepted by the homeowner two months ago, but the bank has yet to approve it.
Last week, the bank indicated new staff had been added to its short-sale department and the offer by Walter’s client had been moved to the top of the list, she said.
“The banks are finally putting the systems in place and hiring enough people to do the work,” Walter said.
Prices have continued to stabilize in Sonoma County after a 3½-year slide that cut the median home price in half. After peaking at $619,000 in August 2005, the median dropped to a low of $305,000 last February. The median has risen 17 percent since, remaining stable since summer.
Prices probably will remain stable for the near term, Laws said.
“Barring a massive flood of inventory, the trend of price stability is here and I see it leading into next year,” he said.
That’s not to say there won’t be more inventory putting pressure on prices next year. Moratoriums on foreclosures and loan modification programs have succeeded in keeping people in their homes for the short term, but longer term they still may lose them, Laws said.
In addition, if the economy remains weak, more higher income people might find themselves getting into mortgage trouble, Laws said.
“I do expect that we’re gong to see a lot more foreclosures coming that are based on the economy, not on just a stupid loan,” he said.
You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com.
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