Wine Country Group Market Trends – March 2012
Wine Country Group Results for March 2012:
The Wine Country Group had 107 closings this March compared to 85 in March 2011. Our dollar volume was $57.5 million compared to $37.6 million last year. These are both record amounts for a month of March going back to when we began keeping records in 1999. Our Sebastopol office led our offices with 33 closings while the Santa Rosa office had 20. The Santa Rosa office led, however, in dollar volume with $18 million in sales compared to Sebastopol’s $13.5 million. The Healdsburg office had 16 closings while the Sonoma office had 14. Our average closing sales price was $537,716 comparing to $442,227 a year ago, so that’s a good improvement in average sales price. It is the highest average selling price for the month of March going back to March 2008. Our escrow openings totaled 98 units, which is the highest for the Wine Country Group for any March since 1999. We also had 44 new listings compared to 67 a year ago.
The Wine Country Group currently has 102 pending sales with a value of $57 million dollars which is consistent with the pending dollar volume over the past twelve months. We have 187 active listings with a value of $147 million dollars. That’s an average listing price of $784,000.
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 second largest real estate firm in the North Bay based on the last twelve months of dollar volume of sales.
March, 2012 – Wine Country Market Analysis
Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,032) in Sonoma County at the end of March was 50% lower than last year (2,052) and about the same as the supply last month (1,047). This is the lowest level of inventory of available homes in the County since March of 2005, seven years ago. But, it seems the decline in inventory may be at its end. New sales in March (707) were 49.5% ahead of the pace in March 2011 (473) and they were 18% ahead of the pace of last month (600). This is the highest level of sales for any month since June 2005. There is only a 1.5 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 March in Sonoma County was $303,000 and was 4% higher than homes sold a year ago. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 25% of the available inventory (continuing to decrease), 53% of new sales (a lower percentage than last month) and 53% of closings for the month. There is only 0.7 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (37) at the end of March 2012 was 49% below that of a year ago (73) and was equal to the inventory last month (39). Sales for the month of March (20) were 67% ahead of the pace of a year ago (12) and were 33% ahead of the new sales reported last month (15). There is a 1.9 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales. 27% of the inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 50% of the new sales and 67% of the closings for the month are distressed properties.
Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (78) in Healdsburg at the end of March was down 30.4% from that of last year (112) and equal to that of last month (75). Inventory has leveled off since the first of the year. New sales (29) were up a whopping 164% from the 11 new sales in March 2011 and up 21% from the 24 sales last month. This is the highest level of new sales for Healdsburg since June 2009. There is a 2.7 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace and that is the lowest level since February 2005. Only 9% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 17% of the new sales were distressed properties and 21% of the closings were distressed properties. There is a 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties. These are the lowest ratios of distressed properties in all of Wine Country.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (78) in Petaluma at the end of March was 69% lower than a year ago (251) and was 14% lower than the supply last month (91). This is the lowest level of inventory in Petaluma since December of 2004. New sales in March (94) were 59% ahead of the pace in March 2011 (59) and they were 19% ahead of the pace of last month (79). This is the highest rate of sales for any month in Petaluma since May of 2005. There is only a 0.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Petaluma and Windsor are the “tightest” market in all of Wine Country. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 22% of the available inventory, 48% of new sales and 51% of closings for the month.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (342) in Santa Rosa at the end of March was 56% lower than a year ago (777) and 5% lower than the supply last month (361). This is the lowest level of inventory in Santa Rosa since January 2005. New sales in March (288) were 36.5% ahead of the pace in March 2011 (211) and they were 11% ahead of the pace of last month (259). This is the highest level of new sales for Santa Rosa for any month since June 2005. There is only 1.2 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – an indication a “seller’s market”. The median price of homes closed in March in Santa Rosa was $280,000 compared to $270,000 a year ago – an increase of 3.7%. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 34% of the available inventory, 59% of new sales and 55% of closings for the month. There is only 0.7 months supply of distressed properties available.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (77) in Sebastopol at the end of March was 25% lower than that of March 2011 (102) and it was 17% higher than that of last three months (66). This is the reverse of the trends in our other Wine Country communities. There were 26 new sales for the month. This is 30% ahead of the pace of a year ago (20) and equal to the pace of the last couple of months. There is a three months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – more inventory than most of our markets. Distressed properties represent 13% of the inventory, 31% of the new sales for the month and 48% of the closings. There is just 0.8 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (141) at the end of March in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 40% from the month of March 2011 (236). It was slightly higher than a month ago (138) perhaps indicating the end of the seasonal decline in inventory. There were 64 new sales for the month. That is 68% higher than that of a year ago (38) and 18.5% ahead of that of last month (54). This is the highest level of new sales in Sonoma since May 2005. There is currently a 2.2 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the homes closed (42) in the Valley in March was $392,000, 17% higher than the median price in March 2011 ($336,000). Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in March (23) represent 16% of the inventory, 44% of the new sales and 40% of the closings. There is only a 0.8% months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
Windsor Trends: The inventory of homes for sale in Windsor (47) at the end of March was 56% lower than the inventory (106) in March 2011 and was 13% below the 54 units available last month. This is the lowest inventory in Windsor since March 2005. There were 64 new sales of homes and condominiums in Windsor in March, which is 83% higher than the 35 sales in March of 2011 and 60% ahead of sales last month (40). This is the highest pace of sales in Windsor since March of 2004, eight years ago. There is just 0.7 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace making Windsor the “tightest” market in all of Wine Country. 43% of the available inventory is distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) while 66% of the new sales and 68% 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 March in Napa County (441) was 42% below the inventory (760) at this time last year and was 2.6% lower than the inventory in February (453). This is the lowest inventory in Napa County since March 2005. New sales (214) were 30% ahead of the pace of a year ago (165) and 39% ahead of that of last month (154). This is the highest level of new sales in any month in Napa County since March 2004, eight years ago. The months of inventory available at the current sales pace is 2.1 months, again the lowest since March 2004. The median price of homes closed ($335,000) was 3% lower than the median price of a year ago ($345,000). 17% of the current listings in Napa County are distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure). 50% of the new sales and 53% of the closed sales for the month are distressed properties. There is only a 0.7 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 (249) is off 42.8% from a year ago (435), the lowest level since March 2005. New sales (138) are 22% ahead of a year ago and 37% ahead last month (101). This is the highest level of sales for any month in Napa since March 2004. There is 1.8 months of available inventory at the current sales pace, also the lowest level since March 2004. The median price for homes closed in Napa in the month of March was $330,000, 4.7% ahead of a year ago ($315,000) and 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 0.7 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 March was 142 units, down 31.4% from 207 a year ago and down slightly from last month. There were 27 new sales in the month of March compared to 14 in March of last year and 17 in February. Aided by 12 sales in Calistoga for the month, this is a level of new sales in the Up Valley. Just 8% of the inventory consists of distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), 33% (9) of the new sales for the month were distressed properties and 35% of the closed sales were distressed properties. These are lower ratios than all other Wine Country markets except Healdsburg.
Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from March 1 to March 31, 2012:
In our Healdsburg office: Ron and Jane Pavelka had five closings; Mike Downes had three closings; Penelope La Montagne, Susan Montgomery, Kent Mitchell, Maria Elena Melody and Debbie Adler had two closings each; Debby Hendershot, Elissa Morrash, Patti Van Deren, Carol Lexa, Judy Csimma, Ken Scharer and Gina Cleaver each had a closing.
In our Napa office: Stacey Oftedal enjoyed three closings; Rianne Pasquariello had two closings; Lark Raymond and Nick Simone each enjoyed a closing.
In our Petaluma office: Sharon Waugh-Vallejo enjoyed three closings; Shawn Macaulay and Patty Moore had two closings; Charlotte Minahan, Juliet Casazza and Randy Benefield each had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa offices: Larry Tristano and Charles Himes enjoyed seven closings; David Poulsen and Christen and Donald Hamilton had three closings each (notably, the Hamiltons double ended a $6.5 million dollar transaction in Windsor; Lila Mathia enjoyed two transactions; Tommy Apostilides, Jill Rake, Cheri Johnke, Bonnie Falconer and Yonghee Jang each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Pam Buda had four closings; Jeff Seligson, Lori Sacco and Doug Schaeffer and Cary Fargo had three closings each; Pauline Pellini, Timothy Hedges, Laurie Parris, Richard Peterson, Sarah Hylton and Sarah Seitchik had two closings each; Monty DeLozier, Lindsey and Gary Kennedy, Michaela Kalemba, Bill Cole, Chris Nelson, Kaye Henzerling, Lisa Dawson and Gene Bonino and Will Brown each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Mike Caselli enjoyed three closings; Sheila Deignan and Mara Kahn each had two closings; Mari Johnson, Patty Keiser, Frank Lazzarotto, Michael Crain, Herb Heil and Leo Merle each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Linda Alioto had two closings for this period.
Congratulations to all!