Million-dollar home sales slide in Sonoma County

<p>Sonoma County last year recorded the lowest number of million-dollar home sales in eight years, though many high-end purchases still remain under the radar in Wine Country.</p><div class="art_item art_item_inset art_item_facts"> <h3>Facts</h3> <h4>Sales slip</h4> <p>Sales of homes priced at $1 million or more tumbled 40 percent in Sonoma County last year. The number of sales has dropped 82 percent from its peak in 2005.<br><br>Year Sales<br>2000 90<br>2001 108<br>2002 137<br>2003 228<br>2004 453<br>2005 719<br>2006 614<br>2007 465<br>2008 216<br>2009 129<br><br>Source: MDA DataQuick</p> </div> <p>Buyers purchased 129 homes priced at $1 million or more in Sonoma County last year, down 40 percent from 2008, according to a new report by MDA DataQuick, a San Diego real estate research firm. It marked the fourth straight decline since 2005, when 719 million-dollar homes were sold.</p><p>So what does a million dollars buy? Statewide, the typical home sold in the million-plus market was 2,646 square feet, with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.</p><p>About four in five million-dollar homes sold for between $1 million and $2 million, said Andrew LePage, an analyst with MDA DataQuick.</p><p>What that means is that in the middle of the last decade, an inflationary real estate market briefly pushed the value of those properties above the $1 million milestone. But, LePage said, home prices then slid and in many cases the property values “fell right back down” below the magic mark.</p><p>LePage cautioned the data includes only those homes that were publicly reported with sales prices, and doesn't include all sales.</p><p>Last fall in Sonoma County, there was a 15-month supply of homes in the million-plus market, compared with just a two-month supply of homes priced under $400,000, according to a September report by Rick Laws of Coldwell Banker in Santa Rosa.</p><p>But Doug Swanson, a broker associate with Pacific Union International in Santa Rosa, said much of that inventory is sitting because of some perceived problem by buyers.</p><p>“In the upper end, where they're coming up here to buy in the Wine Country, they want quality,” Swanson said. In this market, he said, buyers look at any problem as a reason not to buy.</p><p>Swanson was one of a dozen agents and brokers from several firms that gathered Tuesday for the monthly meeting for specialists in luxury home sales. Those in attendance Tuesday shared the dream properties they were seeking for buyers — a horse farm, a farmhouse and places overlooking vineyards. The prices for both buyers and sellers ranged mostly between $1.5 million and $4 million.</p><p>The group later toured the unfinished estate of real estate investor Robert W. O'Neel III. Now in foreclosure, the 29-acre Shiloh Estates property north of Santa Rosa includes a main house of more than 14,000 square feet, plus a wine cave, 10-car garage, recreation barn, pool and tennis court area.</p><p>About $9 million already has been spent on the home's construction, and it still needs significant work to bring it to completion. The listing price is $3.5 million. Those owed money on the property included real estate investor Clem Carinalli and Nordby Signature Homes.</p><p>Agents at the lunch stressed that the luxury end of the market is stronger than the new sales data suggests. They said many high-end buyers will make sure their purchases aren't publicly reported.</p><p>“A lot of these never hit the MLS,” said Mary Anne Veldkamp, referring to the Multiple Listing Service that tracks home sales. Most of those buyers are looking for second homes in Wine Country and able to pay cash, said Veldkamp, who has the listing for the former O'Neel property.</p><p>Cynthia Wood, an agent in Sonoma with Sotheby's International Realty, agrees that the luxury market is stronger than the segment of homes selling for around $1 million.</p><p>But she noted Tuesday that the Sonoma Valley still had a 12-month supply of million-dollar homes. And if the economic downturn continues, more owners of such homes may find themselves pressured to sell.</p><p>“It is absolutely still a buyer's market,” Wood said.</p>