Wine Country Real Estate Trends in August 2014
Training: We are lucky to have a superb training team in our organization. We just completed the most recent cycle of our “Ignite” training for new and re-energizing agents and we have our next in the series of “Power” workshops coming up on 8/14 in Lafayette and on 8/15 in Santa Rosa. This workshop is entitled “Power Negotiating” and will be presented by two of our nationally recognized trainers – Rich Casto and Michael Lee. If you have an interest in attending either workshop, please let me know.
Wine Country Group Results for August 2014:
The Wine Country Group had 75 closings in July 2014 compared to 88 a year ago and 71 last month. In July, we closed homes with a total value of $50.7 million compared to $58.1 million a year ago and $56.6 last month. The Sonoma office led this month with 17 closings while the St. Helena office had 13 and the Santa Rosa office had 12 closings. The Santa Rosa office, aided by a $8.15 million dollar sale by Carlos Rivas of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate, led in dollar volume with $13.3 million in sales while the Sonoma office had $10.1 million and the St. Helena office had $9.5 million.
The Wine Country Group opened 96 new escrows for the month compared to 99 a year ago and 75 last month. The group had 42 new listings compared to 41 in July 2013 and 40 last month. We currently have 106 pending sales with a value of $77 million dollars. We have 131 active listings with a value of $138 million dollars. Our average listing price is $1,052,000 – up 20% from an average of $878,000 a year ago.
Wine Country Real Estate results for July 2014:Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of July stood at 997 compared to 958 last month and 866 a year ago. This is a 4.1% increase month over month and a 15.1% increase year over year. It is the highest level of homes available for sale since July of 2012 and the seventh month in a row that inventory has increased. New sales (581) in July were 6.4% ahead of that of last July (546) and were 5.4% ahead of last month (551). This is the highest level of new sales for any month in two years. Inventory has increased 73% and the new sales pace has increased 111% since December. There is just a 1.7 months supply of inventory in Sonoma County based on the existing sales pace. The time it takes to sell a home in Sonoma County (Days on Market) is 62 days compared to 69 a year ago. The median price of homes closed in July in Sonoma County was $469,000. This is a 4% increase over the median price in July 2013 ($450,000). Prices continue to stabilize year over year. The current median price is still 20% below the peak median price for the County ($589,000) recorded in June 2005.
Sonoma County Luxury Homes: Sales of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $900,000) in Sonoma County have enjoyed a strong growth in the last twelve months. There has been a 29% increase in the number of Luxury Homes closed (479) from 8/1/13 to 7/31/14 compared to 372 from 8/1/12 to 7/31/13. The inventory of Luxury Homes in Sonoma County eased off last month. There were 254 properties at the end of July compared to 266 last month and 272 a year ago. Days on Market for closed Luxury sales dropped from 115 days last year to 92 days this year.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (49) at the end of July 2014 was 26% ahead of that of a year ago (39) and was 6.5% ahead of the inventory last month (46). New sales for the month of July (19) rose 36% from the 14 sales last month and were slightly ahead of the pace of last July (18). There is a 2.6 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales.
Coastal Sonoma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Coastal Sonoma (Bodega Bay, Jenner and Stewart’s Point) at the end of July (37) was the same as last month (38) and was 9% ahead of the inventory a year ago (34). There were 7 new home sales for the month of July compared to 9 a year ago and 4 last month. There is a 5.3 months supply of available inventory in the Coastal Sonoma market based on the current pace of new sales. The Days on Market of the 5 homes that closed in July was a surprising 191 days compared to 102 days a year ago and 45 days last month – so some of the older inventory was absorbed in July.
Healdsburg Trends: There were 75 homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of July compared to 65 last July and 71 in June. There were 22 new sales for the month. This is slightly ahead of the pace in July 2013 (21) and is 27% below the pace last month (30). Last month was the highest number of sales in any month in Healdsburg since July of 2005, so it is reasonable for the market to cool from that pace. The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace fell to 3.4 months. The Days on Market for the 27 homes closed in July was just 58 days compared to 81 days a year ago.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (83) in Petaluma at the end of July was 6% ahead of last month (78) and it was 7% below the pace in July 2013 (89). New sales in July (70) were 30% ahead of the pace of last month (54) and 10% below the 78 new sales in July 2013. There is just a 1.2 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 62 homes that closed in July was $570,000. This is 15% ahead of the median last July ($495,000). Days on market for the closed sales for the month was 59 compared to 80 days a year ago.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of July (321) was 40% higher than a year ago (230) and was 11.5% higher than last month (288). This is the highest level of inventory in Santa Rosa since March 2012. New sales in July (222) were 8% ahead of the pace in July 2013 (206) and they were 8% below the pace of last month (241). There is only a 1.4 months supply of available homes in Santa Rosa based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 247 homes closed in July in Santa Rosa was $435,000 compared to $391,000 a year ago – an 11% increase. Most forecasts that I read expect the median price to stabilize at 8% to 10% appreciation for the year, so this seems to be in line with those forecasts. The Days on Market for the homes closed in July was 59 days compared to 56 days a year ago.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (55) in Sebastopol at the end of July was 10% lower than that of July 2013 (61). It was 8% ahead of that of last month (51). There were 42 new sales for the month of July. This is 13.5% ahead of the pace in July 2013 (37) and double the pace of the 21 last month. There is a just 1.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market of the 26 closed homes in Sebastopol in July was 71 days compared to 83 days a year ago.
Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (135) in July in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was 20.5% ahead of the level of last July (112) and was about equal to that of last month (138). Over 40% – 55 properties of the 135 available – have asking prices in excess of $900,000. There were 51 new sales for the month. This is 12% below the pace of sales in July 2013 (58) and 20% below the pace last month (64). There is a 2.6 months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales. The Days on Market for the closed sales in Sonoma in July totaled 76 days compared to 67 a year ago and 60 last month.
Windsor: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (43) in Windsor at the end of July increased 30% from the 33 homes last month and was 19% ahead of the 36 homes in July 2013. Inventory has increased from just 20 homes in April to 43 at the end of July. New sales in Windsor in July (27) were slightly below the sales in July 2013 (29) and were slightly below the 29 sales last month. There is just a 1.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 30 sales that closed in July in Windsor was $498,000. This is 9% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($455,000).
Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale continued to move ahead for the sixth straight month in Napa County in July. The inventory (437) is 2% higher than it was in July 2013 (429) and 5% higher than last month (416). New sales (120) were 11% lower than last month (135) and were 16% lower than the pace last year (143). There is a 3.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The “Days on Market” for the 126 homes closed in July was 81 days compared to 76 days a year ago. The median price of homes closed in July in Napa County ($569,000) was 19% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($479,000). The current median price is still 16% below the peak median price for the County ($675,000) recorded in June 2006.
Napa County Luxury Homes: Sales of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $900,000) in Napa County have increased 17% for the period 8/1/13 to 7/31/14 compared to 8/1/12 to 7/31/13. There were 200 luxury homes in inventory at the end of July 2014 compared to 183 at the end of July 2013. 46%, or 200, of the 437 homes in inventory in Napa County were Luxury properties. There were 29 new Luxury Home sales in July 2014 compared to 22 in July 2013 and 28 last month. 24%, or 29, of the 120 homes sold in Napa County in July were Luxury Homes. There is a 6.9 months supply of available homes based on the current sales pace compared to 8.3 months supply last year. The Days on Market for the 32 closings of Luxury Homes in July was 128 days compared to 120 a year ago.
Napa: There were 243 available homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of July in the City of Napa. This is 11% higher than the inventory a year ago (220) and it is also 11% above the supply last month (220). New sales (74) were 24% behind the pace in July 2013 (97) and they were slightly behind the pace last month (78). There is a 3.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The “Days on Market” for the homes closed in July was 62 days compared to 71 days in July 2013. The median price of the 75 homes that closed in Napa in July was $540,000. This is 18% ahead of the median price in July 2013 ($459,000). The median price in June is 17% below the peak median price in the City of Napa ($650,000) recorded in August 2006.
Up Valley: Listings held steady compared to last month in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville). The inventory was 148 homes at the end of July 2014 compared to 152 last month and 166 a year ago. There were 31 new sales for the month compared to 38 last month and 27 a year ago. Of the 32 Luxury Homes (selling price in excess of $900,000) that sold in Napa County in July, 50% of them were in the Up Valley market. With this sales pace there is a 4.8 months supply of inventory compared to 6.1 months a year ago. The “Days on Market” for the 33 closings last month was 139 days compared to 99 days in July a year ago and 81 days for the County as a whole. The Up Valley market continues to be a healthy market.
Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from July 1 to July 31, 2014:
In our Cloverdale office: Ron and Jane Pavelka had a closing.
In our Healdsburg office: Debbie Adler enjoyed three closings, and Mike Downes, Lisa Morrash and Diane Harris each had a closing.
In our Napa office: Nick Simone, Tressa Anderson and Michael Senn had two closings each and Billy Birdsong had one closing.
In our Petaluma office: David Poulsen enjoyed three closings; Paul Claeyssens and Randy Haak had two closings each and George Flynn and Diane Watson each had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa office: Lindsey Ehrlicher enjoyed four closings and Tommy Apostolides, Charles Himes, Debra Giambastiani Reis, Don Jaramillo, Carlos Rivas of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate, Amy Leyack and Ryan Styles each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Liz Uribe had two closings and Parmeeta Ghoman, Michaela Kalemba, Rita DeSouza, Jeff Seligson, Christopher Williams and Bette Meritt each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan and Mari Johnson each enjoyed four closings; Erin George and Mara Kahn each had three closings; Patti Marken had two closings and Tiffany Knef and Oak Senvardarlii each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Liz Manfree enjoyed five closings, Jeff Veness had four closings and Linda Alioto and David Barker each had two closings.
Congratulations to all