Wine Country Real Estate Market Trends

Top Producers for 2011:

The Wine Country Group celebrated it’s annual “Kick-off” on February 3rd at the Oakmont Country Club.  Besides hearing from Chairman of the Board of Better Homes and Garden Real Estate/Mason McDuffie Ed Krafchow, and Sonoma State University Economics Professor Rob Eylers, the primary reason for the Kick-off was to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of our great agents and staff in the past year.

Those recognized can be found through the attached link:  http://www.thewebtop.com/docs/WCGAnnualAwardWinners.pdf

Congratulations to all.

Wine Country Group Results for January 2012:

The Wine Country Group had 57 closings this January compared to 61 in January 2011.  Our dollar volume was $26 million compared to $35.5 million last year.  Our Sebastopol office led our offices with 18 closings while the Santa Rosa, Sonoma and Healdsburg offices each had 8 closings.  Our average closing sales price was $457,000 comparing to $605,000 a year ago.  Our escrow openings totaled 80 units, which is 90% greater than 42 new escrows last January.  We had 42 new listings compared to 36 a year ago.

The Wine Country Group currently has 106 pending sales with a value of $62 million dollars – that is about 20% higher than a month ago.  We have 218 active listings with a value of $181 million dollars.  That’s an average listing price of $832,400.

The Wine Country Group currently enjoys number one market share (in either (or both) units and dollar volume) in our Cloverdale, Healdsburg, Sebastopol and Sonoma markets.

January, 2012 – Wine Country Real Estate Market Analysis

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,098) in Sonoma County at the end of January was 44.9% lower than last year (1,993) and 8% lower than the supply last month (1,193).  This is the lowest level of inventory of available homes in the County since March of 2005, over six years ago.  New sales in January (611) were 42.8% ahead of the pace in January 2010 (428) and they were 23% ahead of the pace of last month (495).  This is the highest level of sales for any month since August 2005.  And, to have this sales pace in January is extraordinary.  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 January in Sonoma County was $306,000 and was slightly ahead of the median price of homes sold a year ago, $300,000.  Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 30% of the available inventory, 62% of new sales and 56% of closings for the month.  There is only 0.9 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.  This is the highest level of distressed property sales in any month for which we have data.  It almost appears that there is a rush to purchase these distressed homes before the supply dries up.  The median price of the distressed homes sold in January 2012 was $269,000 compared to $261,000 a year ago.

Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (42) at the end of January 2012 was 46.8% below that of a year ago (79) and was 16.7% ahead of the inventory last month (36).  Sales for the month of January (16) were 45% ahead of the pace of a year ago (11) and were the same amount ahead of the new sales reported last month.  There is a 2.6 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales.  31% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 69% of the new sales and 47% of the closings for the month are distressed properties – a strong influence on the overall market.

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (78) in Healdsburg at the end of January was down 18.7% from that of last year (96) and was up 10% from last month (71).  New sales (18) were up 12.5% from the 16 new sales in January 2010 and up 28.6% from the 14 sales last month.  There is a 4.3 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace and that is the lowest level in the past two years.  Only 8% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 33% of the new sales were distressed properties and 33% of the closings were distressed properties.  There is less than a one months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties.

Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (116) in Petaluma at the end of January was 49.6% lower than a year ago (230) and was 17% lower than the supply last month (140).  This is the lowest level of inventory in Petaluma since December of 2005, six years ago.  New sales in January (84) were 55.6% ahead of the pace in January 2011 (54) and they were 25.4% ahead of the pace of last month (67).  This is the highest rate of sales for any month in Petaluma since August of 2005.  There is only a 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication of a “seller’s” market. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 31% of the available inventory, 65% of new sales and 63% of closings for the month.

Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (368) in Santa Rosa at the end of January was 53% lower than a year ago (785) and 12.8% lower than the supply last month (422).  This is the lowest level of inventory in Santa Rosa since February 2005, over six years ago.  New sales in January (269) were 42.3% ahead of the pace in January 2011 (189) and they were 18.5% ahead of the pace of last month (227).   This is the highest level of new sales for Santa Rosa for any month since August 2005.  There is only 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication a “seller’s market”.  The median price of homes closed in January in Santa Rosa was $270,000 compared to $266,000 a year ago.  Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 37% of the available inventory, 65% of new sales and 57% of closings for the month. There is only 0.8 months supply of distressed properties available.  This is the lowest level of distressed property inventory since May of 2007.

Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (67) in Sebastopol at the end of January was 27.2% below that of January 2011 (92) and it was equal to that of last month (66).  This is the lowest level of available homes for sale in Sebastopol since March 2005.  There were 25 new sales for the month.  This is 56.3% ahead of the pace of a year ago (16) and 78.6% ahead of the pace of last month (14).  There is just a 2.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace.  Distressed properties represent 19% of the inventory, 40% of the new sales for the month and 45% of the closings.  There is just a 1.3 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (144) at the end of Januar in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 28.4% from the month of January 2011 (201).  It was 6% lower than that of a month ago (153).  This is the lowest level of inventory since April 2005. There were 55 new sales for the month that is 72% higher than that of a year ago (32) and 90% ahead of that of last month (29).  There is currently a 2.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace.  The median price of the homes closed (31) in the Valley in January was $400,000, the same as a year ago.  Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in January (31) represent 22% of the inventory, 55% of the new sales and 48% of the closings.  There is only a one months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.

Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (55) at the end of January was 51.3% lower than the inventory (113) in January 2011 and was equal to the 54 units available last month.  This is the lowest inventory in Windsor since May 2005.  There were 37 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in January, which is 6% higher than the 35 sales in January of 2011 and equal to the pace of sales last month.  There is just a 1.5 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace.  53% of the available inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 81% of the new sales and 72% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.  The market seems to be rapidly absorbing all distressed properties that come on the market each month.

Napa County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale at the end of January in Napa County (469) was 40% below the inventory (779) at this time last year and was 7% lower than the inventory in December (504).  This is the lowest inventory in Napa County since April 2005.  New sales (175) were 63.6% ahead of the pace of a year ago (107) and 46% ahead of that of last month (120).  The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 2.7 months – a sign of a balanced market.  The median price of homes sold ($342,000) was 2% higher than the median price of a year ago ($335,000).  22% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure).  63% of the new sales and 63% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties.  There is only a 0.9 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 (269) is off 42% from a year ago (463), new sales (118) are 66% ahead of a year ago and there is 2.3 months of available inventory at the current sales pace.  The median price for homes closed in Napa in the month of January was $345,000 – up 25% from $275,000 a year ago, but it is generally in trend with the 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 0.8 months supply of distressed properties.

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 January was 140 units, down 30.3% from 201 a year ago and down 13.6% from 162 last month.   This is the lowest level of inventory in St. Helena/Up Valley since April 2005, over six years ago.  There were 16 new sales in the month of January compared to 12 in January of last year and 10 last month.  Just 9% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 44% (7) of the new sales for the month were distressed properties and 20% of the closed sales were distressed properties.

CLOSINGS: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from January 1 to January 31, 2011:

In our Healdsburg office:  Debbie Adler and Patty Van Deren and Elissa Morrash had two closings; Diane Harris and Deke Dekay, Beth Bruno, Michael Downes, Ann Amtower and Gina Cleaver each had a closing.  Jane and Ron Pavelka in Cloverdale also enjoyed a closing.

In our Napa office:  Lark Raymond, Helaine Forte, Debbie Murray, Faeli Vyn, Stacey Oftedal and Tressa Anderson each enjoyed a closing.

In our Petaluma office:  Sharon Vallejo had four closings and John O’Keefe had a closing.

In our Santa Rosa offices: Larry Tristano and Charles Himes enjoyed three closings;  Deborah Gray had two closings; and Jim Famini and David Poulsen each had a closing.

In our Sebastopol office:  Liz Uribe, Gene Bonino, Mike Pellini and Eric Lucas had two closings each; Bill Cole, Sarah Hylton, Lisa Dawson, Laurie Parris, Lori Sacco, Pauline Pellini, Chris Nelson, Barbara Paul, Jeffrey Seligson and Doug Schaeffer and Cary Fargo each had a closing.

In our Sonoma office:  A special congratulations to Cece Hugo and Sue Simon who had their very first ever closing as real estate agents.  Well done!  Sheila Deignan, enjoyed two closings; Rob Jones, Mari Johnson, Erin George, Diane Krause, Diane Litchfield and Mike Caselli each had a closing.

And, in our St. Helena office:  Liz Manfree enjoyed three closings and Linda Alioto enjoyed two.

Congratulations to all!