Wine Country Group Results for August, 2011:

The Wine Country Group again expanded in the past month with the addition of two offices in Santa Rosa and one in Petaluma. We have added 40 great real estate agents to our Wine Country Group team. Welcome to: Tommy Apostolides, Coralee Barkela, Stacy Bernd, Judity Browning, Jeff Bounsall, Andrew Cameron, Stephen Crook, Leslie Myers Davis, Suzanne Drace (Office Manager), Jane Duggan, Bonnie Falconer, Jim Famini, Michael Fassio, Deborah Gray, Charles Himes, Volney Howard, Christina Jang, Chari Johnke, Denise Jones, Christen Hamilton, Don Hamilton, Sharon Hamilton, Karen Karlow, Virginia Katz, Gus Kyriakos, Ellen Lesher, Shawn Macaulay, Lila Mathia, Patty Moore, Robert O’Brien, Suzanne O’Brien, Eileen O’Keefe, John O’Keefe, Mark Payne, David Poulsen, Jill Rake, Carlos Rivas, Sandy Swallow, Hally Swan, Larry Tristano, Sharon Vallejo and Mary Visco.

The Wine Country Group now has over 250 agents in eleven offices serving the Wine Country area. We are operating at a pace of over 1,000 units per year with dollar volume over $450 million. This makes us the most productive single real estate firm serving the Wine Country, and, we are poised to grow further.

The Wine Country Group had 89 closings this August compared to 65 in August, 2010. This is the highest number of closings that we have ever had in the month of August. Our dollar volume was $27.2 million compared to $29.5 million last year. Our Sebastopol office had a healthy 30 closings for the month while Healdsburg had 27 and Sonoma had 26. Our average closing sales price was $290,296 compared to $478,673 a year ago and $407,704 last month, so we were clearly dealing with lower priced properties this past month. Our escrow openings totaled 54 units, which is 24% lower than the 71 new escrows last August. We expect some pick-up in this area in September.

With the addition of our three new offices, the Wine Country Group becomes the number two firm in all of Sonoma County with 9.8% market share in dollar volume compared to 10.9% for the leading firm. We have an 8% share in unit volume. Our offices remain solidly number one in market share in Sebastopol (21.5%), Healdsburg (20.7), Cloverdale (22.5%) and the Sonoma Valley (18.0%) markets. We’ve improved our market share in Up Valley Napa Valley to 10% 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.

The Wine Country Group currently has 94 pending sales with a value of $53 million dollars. We have 182 active listings with a value of $132 million dollars. That’s an average listing price of $723,711. As indicated in the market analyses below, the inventory is tight compared to a year ago.

August, 2011 – Wine Country Market Analysis

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,830) in Sonoma County at the end of August was 29% lower than a year ago (2,580) and 3% lower than the supply last month (1,893). New sales in August (684) were 59% ahead of the pace in August, 2010 (429) and they were 27% ahead of the pace of last month (539). This is the highest level of new sales for Sonoma County for any month since June, 2005. There is only a 2.7 months 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 August in Sonoma County was $315,000 and was 9% below the median price of homes sold a year ago ($347,000) but was general consistent with, or better than, the median price of homes closed in the County over the last nine months. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 28% of the available inventory, 58% of new sales and 36% of closings for the month. At this time last year, 41% of the inventory consisted of distressed properties. There is only a 1.3 months supply of distressed properties available. The median price on the distressed sales is equal to $252,000 thereby heavily affecting the overall median price in the County.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (243) at the end of August in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 15% from the month of August, 2010 (286). It was 6.5% lower than that of a month ago (260). There were 64 new sales for the month which is 21% higher than that of a year ago (53) and 60% higher than that of last month (40). There is currently a 3.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the homes closed (49) in the Valley in August was $515,000 compared to $345,000 last month and $430,000 a year ago. As predicted, a number of higher end property closings in August had a positive effect on the median price. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in August represent 21% of the inventory, 41% of the new sales and 22% of the closings. This compares to 29% of the inventory, 26% of new sales and 40% of closings in August, 2010. There is only a two months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (125) in Healdsburg at the end of August was down 14% from that of last year (145) and was equal to that of last month. New sales (31) were 63% higher than the 19 new sales in August, 2010 and were 94% higher than the number of new sales last month (16). Only 7% of the inventory consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 29% of the new sales were distressed properties and 24% of the closings were distressed properties. There is a four months supply of inventory based on the overall inventory and sales pace, and only a one 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 (60) at the end of August, 2011 was 28% below that of a year ago (83) and was slightly lower than the inventory last month (64). Sales for the month of July (25) were 150% ahead of the pace of a year ago (10) and were 47% ahead of new sales reported last month (17). It is the highest pace of sales for any month in Cloverdale since April of 2005. There is a 2.4 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales indicating a “seller’s” market. 25% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 60% of the new sales and 42% 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 consisted of distressed properties.

Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (114) in Sebastopol at the end of August was 21% below that of August, 2010 (145) and it was slightly below that of last month (118). There were 35 new sales for the month which is 75% ahead of the pace of that of a year ago (20) and 52% ahead of that of last month (23). This is the highest level of new sales in Sebastopol for any month in the past five years. Distressed properties represent just 10% of the inventory, 28% of the new sales for the month and 36% 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 (97) at the end of August was 26% lower than the inventory (131) in August, 2010 and was equal to the 95 units available last month. There were 53 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in August, which is 179% higher than the 19 sales in August of 2010 and 23% higher than the 43 sales last month. The 53 sales last month were the highest for any single month since April of 2005. There is just a 1.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace, so Windsor remains a hot market. 52% of the available inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 75% of the new sales and 47% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.

Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (624) in Santa Rosa at the end of August was 35% lower than a year ago (964) and 6% lower than the supply last month (666). New sales in August (303) were 64% ahead of the pace in August, 2010 (185) and they were 36% ahead of the pace of last month (222). As with Sonoma County as a whole, this is the highest level of new sales for Santa Rosa for any month since June, 2005. There is only a 2.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication a “seller’s” market. The median price of homes closed in August in Santa Rosa was $285,000 and was 7% below the median price of homes sold a year ago ($307,000) but was general consistent with, or better than, the median price of homes closed in the city over the last nine months. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 35% of the available inventory, 62% of new sales and 43% of closings for the month. At this time last year, 48% of the inventory consisted of distressed properties. There is only a 1.2 months supply of distressed properties available.

Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (191) in Petaluma at the end of August was 36% lower than a year ago (300) and was equal to the supply last month (190). New sales in August (79) were 43% ahead of the pace in August, 2010 (55) and they were 10% ahead of the pace of last month (72). There is only a 2.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication of a “seller’s” market. The median price of homes closed in August in Petaluma was $355,000 and was 11% below the median price of homes sold a year ago ($400,000) but was general consistent with, or better than, the median price of sold homes in Petaluma over the last nine months. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 30% of the available inventory, 57% of new sales and 57% of closings for the month. This is generally consistent with the figures a year ago in August.

Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of August in Napa County (683) was 34% below the inventory (1030) at this time last year and was about equal to the inventory in July. New sales (183) were 58% ahead of the pace of a year ago (116) and 26% ahead of that of last month (146). The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 3.7 months – a sign of a balanced market. The median price of homes sold ($351,000) was 7% lower than the median price of a year ago ($380,000), but it is a bit higher than the median price over the last nine months. 22% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 55% of the new sales and 47% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties. At this time a year ago, 35% of the inventory consisted of distressed properties. There is only a 1.5 months 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 $280,000.

The city of Napa figures generally mirror the county figures. The inventory (406) is off 36% from a year ago (634), new sales (107) are 41% 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 August was $350,000 –off from $360,000 a year ago. The City of Napa has similar ratios with regard to the impact of distressed properties on the market – there is only a 1.7 months supply of distressed properties. American Canyon remains short on inventory as there are just a one month supply based on new sales and the impact of distressed properties is the highest in the County: 65% of inventory, 80% of new sales and 84% 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 August was 207 units, down 19% from 256 a year ago and down from 220 last month. There were 22 new sales in the month of August compared to 13 in August of last year and 16 last month. Just 9% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 18% (4) of the new sales for the month were distressed properties.

Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from August 16, 2011 to September 14, 2011:
In our Healdsburg office: Jane and Ron Pavelka had seven closings; Susan Montgomery had three closings; Penelope La Montagne, Elissa Morrash, Debbie Adler, Jose Hernandez, Michael Downes, Ann Amtower, and Patty Van Deren had two closings each; Carol Lexa, Dee Grohmann, Deke Dekay and Diane Harris, Beth Bruno, and Carol Figone each had a closing.
In our Napa and St. Helena offices: Liz Manfree, Helaine Forte, Faeli Vyn, Ellen Politz, Linda Alioto, Paulina Humeres-Greene, Lark Raymond, Tressa Anderson and Rianne Pasquariello each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Lori Sacco had seven closings; Michael Friedenberg and Cory Maguire had three closings each; Nathan Genovese had two closings; and Allison Pharis, Rita DeSouza, Kaye Henzerling, Doug Schaeffer and Cary Fargo, Sandie Schach, Susan Bryer, Gene Bonino, Gloria Epperson, Jeanne Woods, and Jeffrey Seligson each had a closing.
And, in our Sonoma Valley offices: Sheila Deignan had six closings; Michael Caselli had four closings; Diane Krause and Kendra Martin had two closings each; and, Mara Kahn, Shanis Nelson, Erin George, Pam Giusto, Joyce Davison, Rob Jones, David Kerr, and Isaac Raboy each had a closing.

Congratulations to all!