Wine Country Real Estate Trends
Wine Country Group Results for July 2012:
The Wine Country Group had 86.5 closings this July compared to 53 in July 2011. Our dollar volume was $38 million compared to $22 million last year. This is the highest number of closings that we have had in any July since our founding in 1996. Our Sebastopol office led the pack with 26 closings in July while the Sonoma and Healdsburg offices had 20.5 and 14 closings respectively. The Sonoma office led in dollar volume closed with $11 million dollars in sales volume while the Sebastopol office had $10 million. Our average closing sales price was $424,856 comparing to $410,283 a year ago. Our escrow openings totaled 93.5 units compared to 83 last year which is also an all-time record for the month of July. We had 39 new listings compared to 23 a year ago. All indicators are that the market in the Wine Country is continuing to strengthen.
The Wine Country Group currently has 101 pending sales with a value of $57 million dollars. We have 181 active listings with a value of $145 million dollars. That’s an average listing price of $800,000 – up from an average of $694,000 a year ago.
The Wine Country Group currently enjoys number one market share (in either (or both) units and dollar volume) in our Cloverdale, Healdsburg, and Sebastopol markets. We are the fourth largest real estate firm in Sonoma and Napa Counties based on the last twelve months of both units sold and dollar volume of sales.
July, 2012 – Wine Country Real Estate Market Analysis
Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1003) in Sonoma County at the end of July was 47% lower than last year (1,893) and slightly below the supply last month (1,043). New sales in July (568) were 11% ahead of the pace in July 2011 (511) and they were 13% lower than the pace of last month (655). There is only a 1.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – a continuing indication of what we would normally call a strong “seller’s market”. The median price of homes closed in July in Sonoma County was $329,000 and was 7% higher than the average price of homes sold a year ago ($308,000). Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 14% of the available inventory (stable month over month). The 140 distressed units available at the end of July was the lowest level for any month in the last five years. 38% of new sales and 40% of closings for the month were distressed properties. There is only a one half months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace. The median price of the distressed homes sold in the month was $265,000, 10% ahead of the median price a year ago.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (39) at the end of July 2012 was 39% below that of a year ago (64) and was 11% below the inventory last month (44). Sales for the month of July (17) were exactly equal to the sales this month a year ago and also equal to the new sales reported last month (18). There is a 2.3 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales. Only 13% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 47% of the new sales and 44% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.
Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (98) in Healdsburg at the end of July was down 25% from that of last year (131) but it rose as it has for the past seven months and is 4% ahead of that of last month (94). New sales (9) were down 44% from the 16 new sales in July 2011 and were down 61% from the 23 sales last month. It was certainly an unusually slow month for new sales. This slow pace of sales creates a 11 month supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace – but this should not hold in the coming month. Only 6% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 11% of the new sales were distressed properties and 21% of the closings were distressed properties. There is a six months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (83) in Petaluma at the end of July was 57% lower than a year ago (193) and it was 15% lower than the supply last month (98). New sales in July (72) were 4% higher than that of the pace in July 2011 (69) and they were 25% lower than the pace of last month (96). There is only a 1.2 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 16% of the available inventory, 44% of new sales and 33% of closings for the month.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (270) in Santa Rosa at the end of July fell for the 12th straight month and was 60% lower than a year ago (666). It was equal to the Inventory last month. New sales in July (233) were 11% ahead of the pace in July 2011 (210) and they were 17% lower than the pace of last month (280). There is only a 1.2 months supply of available homes. The median price of homes closed in July in Santa Rosa was $310,000 compared to $272,000 a year ago – a 14% increase. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 23% of the available inventory, 42% of new sales and 43% of closings for the month. There is only one half months supply of distressed properties available.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (91) in Sebastopol at the end of July was 23% lower than that of July 2011 (118) and it was 14% ahead of that of last month (80). There were 25 new sales for the month compared to 23 in July 2011. New sales were 22% below the pace of last month (32). There is a 3.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties represent 11% of the inventory, 44% of the new sales for the month and 23% of the closings. There is just 0.9 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (143) at the end of July in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 45% from the month of July 2011 (260). It was 9% below the inventory of a month ago (157). There were 64 new sales for the month. This is 64% higher than that of a year ago (39). There is currently a 2.2 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in July represent 10% of the inventory, 27% of the new sales and 40% of the closings. The impact of distressed sales on the market continues to decline and there is only a .08% months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (30) at the end of July was 68% lower than the inventory (95) in July 2011 and was down 18% from the 37 units available last month. This is the lowest inventory in Windsor since February 2005. There were 34 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in July, which is 11% lower than the 38 sales in July of 2011 and equal to the sales last month. There is just a .9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. 17% of the available inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 50% of the new sales and 41% of the closings for the month are distressed properties. There is only a .3% months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of July in Napa County fell slightly to 468 units. This is 33% below the inventory (696) at this time last year and is 4% lower than the inventory in June (489). New sales (147) were 10% ahead of the pace of a year ago (134) and 18% lower than the pace of last month (180). The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 3.2 months. The median price of homes closed ($403,000) was 30% higher than the median price of a year ago ($310,000). 10% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 42% of the new sales and 34% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties. There is only a 0.8 months supply of distressed properties on the market based on the current sales pace.
The City of Napa figures generally mirror the County figures. The inventory (256) is off 35% from a year ago (391). New sales (94) are 7% ahead of a year ago (88) and 25% off of that of last month (126). There is 2.7 months of available inventory at the current sales pace. The median price for homes closed in Napa in the month of July was $403,000, 32% ahead of a year ago ($305,000) and ahead of the median prices over the past twelve months. The City has similar ratios with regard to the impact of distressed properties on the market. There is only a 0.7 months supply of distressed properties.
St. Helena/Up Valley Trends: The St. Helena/Up Valley market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville), inventory at the end of July increased for the sixth straight month. The inventory was 176 units, down 20% from 220 a year ago and up a unit from last month. There were 21 new sales in the month of July compared to 15 in July of last year and 17 last month. The Up Valley market continues to show improvement. Just 6% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 10% of the new sales for the month were distressed properties and 11% of the closed sales were distressed properties.
Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from July 1 to July 31, 2012:
In our Cloverdale office, Ron and Jane Pavelka had three closings.
In our Healdsburg office: The team of Deke Dekay and Diane Harris, Debbie Adler and Kent Mitchell each had two closings; and Mike Downes, Penelope La Montagne, Ann Amtower, Gina Cleaver, Susan Montgomery, Bernie Curley, Linda Farwell and Hank Lane each had a closing.
In our Napa office: Rianne Pasquariello enjoyed two closings; and Lark Raymond, Shawn Daee and Lynda Jensen each had a closing.
In our Petaluma office: John O’Keefe enjoyed three closings; and Silvia Schagerer and Charlotte Minahan each had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa offices: The team of Lisa Combs and Alison Johnson, the team of Larry Tristano and Charles Himes, Donald Hamilton and Carlos Rivas of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate enjoyed two closings each; and Christen Hamilton, Cheri Johnke, Jill Rake, Jim Famini and David Poulsen each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Lori Sacco led all Wine Country Group agents with seven closings; Chris Nelson and Cheryl Ellis had three closings each; Laurie Parris, Gloria Epperson and Liz Uribe had two closings each; and Bill Cole, Jeffrey Seligson, Bette Meritt, Francine Passalacqua, Cary Fargo, Eric Lucas, Michael and Pauline Pellini, Barbara Paul, William Kent and Sandie Schach each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan was busy with four closings; Diane Krause, Kory Stradinger, Erick Rothfeld, Mike Caselli and Mara Kahn each had two closings; and Joyce Davison, Frank Lazzarotto, Shanis Nelson, Michael Crain, Tish Thames, Herb Heil, Carl MacPetrie and Diane Litchfield each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Linda Alioto enjoyed three closings; Paulina Humeres-Green had two closings and Jeff Veness had a closing for this period.
Congratulations to all!