Wine Country Group Results for July, 2011:
We are pleased to have added 37 great real estate agents to our Wine Country Group team in the past forty-five days. Welcome to:
Lori Allen, Tressa Anderson, Julianne Anshutz, Geoffrey Apple, Rikki Barron, Sean Barron, Kathleen Zimmerman-Bonham, Nancy Boom, Susan Bryer, Beverly Buswell, Mike Caselli, Teresa Clark, Chris Curtin, Nancy Fiddler, Michael Friedenberg, Jan Frost, Adam Ghisletta, Joan Harrington, Kaye Henzerling, Nancy Hubert, Lynda Jensen (Manager, Napa and St. Helena offices), Ian Kalember, Reno LaGrande, Carl MacPetrie, Cory Maguire, Bette Meritt, Robert Miele, Jeff Owens, Riann Pasquariello, Sarah Seitchik, Nick Simone, John Starkey, Glenn Stocki, Tessa Svendsen, Norbert Tenenbaum, Liz Uribe and Jeanne Woods.
The Wine Country Group now has over 165 agents serving the Wine Country area.
The Wine Country Group had 53 closings this July compared to 59 in July, 2010. Our dollar volume was $21.7 million compared to $23.6 million last year. Our Sebastopol office had a healthy 18 closings for the month while Healdsburg had 15 and Sonoma had 13. Our small office in St. Helena had another strong month with 6 closings. Our average closing sales price was $407,704 compared to $414,023 a year ago and $359,000 last month. Our escrow openings totaled 83 units which is 57% higher that the 53 new escrows last July. Interestingly, we only had 7 cancelled transactions this June compared to 17 in July, 2010.
Our offices remain solidly number one in market share in Sebastopol (27.2%), Healdsburg (22.1% which is three+ times our nearest competitor), Cloverdale (21.7%) and the Sonoma Valley (18.3%) markets. We’ve improved our market share in Up Valley Napa Valley to 9.7% achieving #3 in the market. Our Napa Valley offices retain a 4% overall market share in Napa County, fourth among all brokerages in the county. Our market share in all of Sonoma County has grown to 7.7% closing in on the #2 company in the County which has 8%.
The Wine Country Group currently has 91 pending sales with a value of $53 million dollars. We have 178 active listings with a value of $124 million dollars. That’s an average listing price of $694,000. As indicated in the market analyses below, the inventory is tight compared to a year ago.
July, 2011 – Wine Country Market Analysis
Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of July in Napa County (696) was 33% below the inventory (1036) at this time last year and was about equal to the inventory in June. New sales (157) were 35% ahead of the pace of a year ago (116) and slightly ahead of that of last month (142). The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 4.4 months – a sign of a balanced market. The median price of homes sold ($320,000) was 14% lower than the median price of a year ago ($373,000), but it is consistent with the median price over the last nine months. 19% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 55% of the new sales and 51% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties. At this time a year ago, 34% of the inventory consisted of distressed properties. There is only a 1.6 month supply of distressed properties on the market based on the current sales pace, so it appears that buyers are responding to the values available in most of these distressed properties where the median price of the sales for last month was $278,000.
The city of Napa figures generally mirror the county figures. The inventory (391) is off 38% from a year ago, new sales (102) are 24% ahead of a year ago and there is only 3.8 months of available inventory at the current sales pace. The median price for homes closed in Napa in the month of July was $310,000 –off from $370,000 a year ago, but the same as June. The City of Napa has similar ratios with regard to the impact of distressed properties on the market – there is only a 1.1 months supply of distressed properties. American Canyon remains short on inventory as there are just 1.9 months supply based on new sales and the impact of distressed properties is the highest in the County: 67% of inventory, 78% of new sales and 55% of closings.
St. Helena/Up Valley Trends: The St. Helena/Up Valley market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville), inventory at the end of July was 220 units, down 14% from 257 a year ago and up from 208 last month. There were 17 new sales in the month of July compared to 10 in July of last year and 10 last month. Just 6% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 47% (8) of the new sales for the month were distressed properties.
Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,893) in Sonoma County at the end of July was 25% lower than a year ago (2,537) and exactly equal to the supply last month. New sales in July (627) were 35% ahead of the pace in July, 2010 (465) and they were 9% ahead of the pace of last month (577). This is the highest level of new sales for Sonoma County for any month since August of 2005. There is only a 3 month supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication of a trend towards a “seller’s” market. The median price of homes closed in July in Sonoma County was $310,000 and was 9% below the median price of homes sold a year ago ($340,000) but was general consistent with, or better than, the median price of sold homes in the County over the last seven months. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 27% of the available inventory, 51% of new sales and 45% of closings for the month. At this time last year, 40% of the inventory consisted of distressed properties. There is only a 1.6 months supply of distressed properties available. The median price on the distressed sales is equal to $245,000 thereby heavily affecting the overall median price in the County.
Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (260) at the end of July in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 14% from the month of July, 2010 (302). It was equal to that of a month ago. There were 49 new sales for the month which is 32% higher than that of a year ago (37) and 15% lower than that of last month (58). There is currently a 5.3 month supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the homes closed (40) in the Valley in July was $345,000 compared to $394,000 last month and $460,000 a year ago. It was somewhat lower than the median price in the Valley over the past six months. We have seen some higher priced closings in the month of August, so the median price may rebound a bit next month. The impact of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley market diminished slightly in July as distressed properties represent 18% of the inventory, 35% of the new sales and 32% of the closings. This compares to 25% of the inventory, 43% of new sales and 27% of closings in July, 2010. There is only a 2.8 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (131) in Healdsburg at the end of July was down 20% from that of last year (163) and was equal to that of last month. New sales (19) were 30% lower than the 27 new sales in July, 2010 and were exactly equal to the number of new sales last month. July of 2010 was an aberration for new sales relative to the preceding and following twelve months. Only 7% of the inventory consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 32% of the new sales were distressed properties and 23% of the closings were distressed properties. There is a seven month supply of inventory based on the overall inventory and sales pace, and only a 1.5 month supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (64) at the end of July, 2011 was 24% below that of a year ago (84) and was slightly lower than the inventory over the past six months. Sales for the month of July (20) were 82% ahead of the pace of a year ago (11) and were equal to the pace of new sales reported last month. It is the highest pace of sales for any month in Cloverdale since May of last year. There is a 3.2 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales indicating a balanced to “seller’s” market. 36% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 40% of the new sales and 50% of the closings for the month are distressed properties – a strong influence on the overall market. But last year at this time, 55% of the inventory were distressed properties.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (95) in Sebastopol at the end of July was 17% below that of July, 2010 (143) and it was slightly below that of last month (121). There were 30 new sales for the month which is 3% below that of a year ago (31) and 43% ahead of that of last month (21). The Sebastopol market seems to be stable over the past fifteen months with 25 to 30 new sales per month. Distressed properties represent just 10% of the inventory, 37% of the new sales for the month and 23% of the closings. There is only a 1.1 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (92) at the end of July was 25% lower than the inventory (126) in July, 2010 and was slightly higher than the 92 units available last month. There were 51 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in July which is 65% higher than the 31 sales in July of 2010 and 38% higher than the 37 sales last month. The 51 sales last month were the highest for any single month since April of 2005. There is just a 1.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace, so Windsor remains a hot market. 54% of the available inventory are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 61% of the new sales and 57% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.
Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from July 1, 2011 to August 15, 2011:
In our Healdsburg office: Penelope La Montagne and Debbie Adler had four closings each; Susan Montgomery had three closings; Michael Downes, Carol Lexa and Dee Grohmann had two closings each; and, Gina Cleaver, Betty Hagedon, Kent Mitchell, Jane and Ron Pavelka, Nick Thompson, Caroline Arvilla and Nicki Rector each had a closing.
In our Napa and St. Helena offices: Liz Manfree had three closings; and, Helaine Forte, Faeli Vyn, Ellen Politz, Charlie McLaughlin, Jeff Veness, Gina Papale White and Linda Alioto each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Lori Sacco and Doug Schaeffer and Cary Fargo had four closings each; Allison Pharis, Lisa Dawson, Sarah Hylton, Laurie Parris, William Cole, and Rigzin Vassallo had two closings each; and Pam Buda, Ian Kalemba, Gene Bonino, Lindsey Kennedy, Sandy Mays, Cecelia Wilcoxon, Jeff Seligson, Jeanne Woods, Michael Friedenberg, and Cathy Wild each had a closing.
And, in our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan had six closings; Joyce Davison and Erin George had four closings each; Shanis Nelson, Diane Krause, Mari Johnson and Rob Jones and David Kerr had two closings each; and, Diane Litchfield, Kendra Martin, and Isaac Raboy each had a closing.
Congratulations to all!