The Winter real estate market was not terrible

The latest real estate market data is indicating that Sacramento and Placer Counties are still considered seller’s markets while El Dorado County continues to be neutral. I prefer calling all three neutral markets.

Inventory depletion levels are around 2 months for Sacramento and Placer Counties while El Dorado County has approximately 4 months. This stat alone dictates the status of the markets: sellers, buyers, and neutral. Remember, a seller’s market definition is 3 or fewer months of inventory, buyer’s 6 and over and everything in between neutral.

Sacramento and Placer County markets are behaving similarly while El Dorado County is the outlier. The number of actually sold properties and pending sales have increased compared to last month in the former counties. El Dorado County shows an increase in pending sales with the number of sold properties reflecting a decrease of 13.5%.

The good news for sellers is that sold pricing continues to hold with slight increases compared to last month. Additionally, the ratio of listing price to actual sold price is holding steady at around 96%. This is a healthy ratio and gives some solace to buyers that they don’t have to pay list to secure a home, some wiggle room.

The numbers of days a home remains on the market until final close is around 1.5 months for Sacramento and Placer Counties. El Dorado County is reporting 2 months for DOM (days on market).

Unlike the other reporting counties, El Dorado County has two distinct markets; El Dorado Hills and everyone else. For the sake of this report Lake Tahoe area data is not reflected; sales of homes about halfway up the hill are.

As we morph from a winter market to spring the data looks promising in that our area continues to show resilience. If and when more homes in the lower end of pricing become available our housing market would take off. This would get more people in the future move-up buyer category. Unfortunately, regulations and infrastructure cost is making that idea difficult for builders with their need to make a profit.