Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group Results for February 2016
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group had 44 closings in February 2016 compared to 40 a year ago and 40 last month. In February, we closed homes with a total value of $26.4 million compared to $27.1 million a year ago and $22.1 last month. The average selling price of the properties sold by the Wine Country Group in February was $600,824 compared to $679,307 a year ago and $553,573 last month. The Sebastopol office led in February with 11 closings while the Sonoma office had 10 and the Santa Rosa office had 7. The Sebastopol and Sonoma offices also each had $6.3 million in dollar volume while the Santa Rosa and St. Helena offices each had $4.4 million.
The Wine Country Group opened 51 new escrows for the month compared to 50 a year ago and 56 last month. The Group had 31 new listings compared to 28 in February 2015 and 14 last month. We currently have 55 pending sales with a value of $36 million dollars. We have 66 active listings with a value of $67 million dollars. Our average listing price is $1,013,000. This is 2% higher than the $990,000 average a year ago.
Wine Country Real Estate results for February 2016:
Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of February stood at 537 compared to 560 a year ago and 502 last month. This is a 4% decrease on a year over year basis and a 7% increase from last month. We saw an increase in inventory for the first time since October – a natural trend as we start into the Spring market. The current inventory is only 19% of the inventory that the County had in February of 2008 (2,801). New sales (407) in February were 12% ahead of last February (362) and were 41% ahead of the pace of last month (289). Strong demand and light supply creates a tight 1.3 months supply of inventory in Sonoma County based on the existing sales pace. In February 2008, there was a 9 month supply of inventory. The time it takes to sell a home in Sonoma County (Days on Market) is 76 days compared to 82 a year ago. The median price of homes closed in February in Sonoma County was $512,000. This is a 12.5% increase over the median price in February 2015 ($455,000). The current median price is 13% below the peak median price for the County ($589,000) recorded in June 2005. At this time last year the median was 23% below the peak.
Sonoma County Luxury Homes: About one quarter of the inventory in Sonoma County can be characterized as Luxury Homes (listing price in excess of $1,300,000). There has been a 12% increase in the number of Luxury Homes closed (263) from 3/1/15 to 2/29/16 compared to 235 from 3/1/14 to 2/29/15. The pace of closings of Luxury Homes in February (7) fell to the lowest level in over two years. New sales were fairly strong (16) so we’ll see if the closings pick up. There were 128 luxury properties in inventory at the end of February compared to 107 last month and 114 a year ago. Days on Market for Luxury Home sales was 190 days this February compared to 113 days a year ago. This compares to 76 days on market for all closed properties in the County in February.
Coastal Sonoma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Coastal Sonoma (Bodega Bay, Jenner and Stewart’s Point) at the end of February (18) was 44% below the inventory a year ago (32) and 14% below the inventory last month (21). There were 10 new home sales for the month of February compared to 3 a year ago and 5 last month. The Days on Market of the 4 homes that closed in February was 204 days compared to 135 days last month.
Healdsburg Trends: There were 40 homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of February. This is equal to the inventory last February (41) and also equal to the inventory last month (39). There were 21 new sales for the month. This is a 17% ahead of the pace in February 2015 (18) and a whopping 162.5% ahead of pace last month (8). The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace is 1.9 months. The Days on Market for the 12 homes closed in February was 160 days compared to 110 days a year ago and 83 days last month.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (55) in Petaluma at the end of February was 20% ahead of the inventory in February 2015 (46) and it was 34% ahead of the inventory last month (41). New sales in Petaluma in February (42) were 8% ahead of the 39 new sales in February 2015 and 31% ahead of the sales last month (32). There is just a 1.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 34 homes that closed in February was $580,000. This is 20% ahead of the median last February ($485,000). This is higher than the increase in the County as a whole. The Days on Market for the closed sales for the month was 67 days compared to 61 a year ago and 66 last month.
Rohnert Park and Cotati: Rohnert Park and Cotati remain the most volatile market in Wine Country. Inventory fell 24% in February (25) from 33 last month and 36 a year ago. New sales (38) jumped up 58% from 24 last month and they were 9% ahead of the sales in February 2015 (35). There is less than a one months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 23 homes that closed in Rohnert Park and Cotati in February was 56 days compared to 50 days a year ago and 82 days last month.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of February (183) was 7% lower than that of a year ago (197) and was about equal to the inventory last month (178). New sales in February (175) jumped up 61% ahead of the pace of last month (109) and were 15% ahead of the pace in last February (152). There is only a one months supply of available homes in Santa Rosa based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 105 homes closed in February in Santa Rosa was $475,000 compared to $450,000 a year ago – a 5.5% increase. The Days on Market for the homes closed in February in Santa Rosa was 57 days compared to 78 a year ago and 78 last month. It was a happening month for sales of homes in Santa Rosa in February.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (26) in Sebastopol at the end of February was 13% lower than that of February 2015 (30) and it was 53% higher than that of last month (17). There were 105 homes in inventory in Sebastopol in February 2008. There were 15 new sales for the month of February. This is 50% ahead of the pace in February 2015 (10) and equal to the pace of last month (16). There is a 1.7 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market of the 11 closed homes in Sebastopol in February was 123 days compared to 109 days a year ago and 87 days last month.
Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (72) in February in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was slightly ahead of the level of last February (70) and it was 38.5% ahead of the inventory of last month (52). There were 30 new sales for the month. This is 25% below the pace of sales in February 2015 (40) and it is 6% below the pace of last month (32). There is a 2.4 months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales compared to 1.8 months supply a year ago and a 1.6 months supply last month. The Days on Market for the 24 closed sales in Sonoma in February was 71 days compared to 75 a year ago and 86 last month. Over 48% of the inventory in the Sonoma Valley is priced at $1,000,000 or above while 23% of the new sales (7) were priced at $1,000,000 or more. There were 38% more sales (47) in the top quartile (listing price in excess of $2,000,000) in the Sonoma Valley over the past twelve months than the prior twelve months (34).
Windsor: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (24) in Windsor at the end of February is up 41% from the 17 homes in inventory in February 2015 and is 20% less than the 30 homes last month. There were 32 new sales in Windsor in February. This is 60% ahead of the sales in February 2015 (20) and 28% ahead of the 25 sales last month. More homes sold in the month than there were in inventory at either the beginning or end of the month. There is less than a one months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 29 sales that closed in February in Windsor was $509,000. This is 5% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($486,000).
Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale in Napa County in February (244) is 10% below the inventory in February 2015 (270) and slightly below the inventory last month (247). This is the lowest inventory for any month dating back over 15 years. New sales (134) were 17.5% ahead of the pace last year (114) and 65.4% above the pace of last month (81). There is a 1.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 73 homes closed in February was 96 days compared to 113 days a year ago and 92 days last month. The median price of homes closed in February in Napa County ($625,000) was 30% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($480,000). The current median price is just 7% below the peak median price for the County ($675,000) recorded in June 2006.
Napa County Luxury Homes: If one takes the highest quartile (25%) of available inventory as the “Luxury Market”, the Luxury Market begins at $2,300,000 in Napa County at this time. The sales of Luxury Homes (list price in excess of $2,300,000) in Napa County have increased 15% for the period 3/1/15 to 2/29/16 (69) compared to 3/1/14 to 2/29/15 (60). There were 60 luxury homes in inventory at the end of February 2016 compared to 49 at the end of February 2015. There is a 8.5 months supply of available Luxury Homes based on the current sales pace compared to 8.2 months supply last year. It will be interesting to see if that supply is reduced in the coming months.
Napa: There were 127 available homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of February in the City of Napa. This is 15% below the inventory a year ago (140) and it is 7% ahead of the supply last month (119). New sales (87) were 16% ahead of the pace of February 2015 (75) and they were 47.5% ahead of the pace of last month (59). There is a 1.5 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 49 homes closed in February in the City of Napa was 84 days compared to 93 days in February 2015 and 88 days last month. The median price of the homes that closed in Napa in February was $586,000. This is 16% ahead of the median price of the homes closed in February 2015 ($504,000). The median price in February remains 10% below the peak median price in the City of Napa ($650,000) recorded in August 2006.
Up Valley Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (76) in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) at the end of February 2016 was 13% below the level of 87 in February 2015 and it was 6% below the level last month (81). Up Valley is one of the few markets in Wine Country where the inventory did not start to climb in February. There were 26 new sales for the month compared to 18 a year ago and 9 last month. There is now a 2.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 18 closings last month was 108 days compared to 260 days in February a year ago and 97 days in January.
Closings: The following Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group agents enjoyed closings for the period from February 1 to February 29, 2016:
In our Healdsburg office: Linda Farwell had three closings and Diane Harris had one closing.
In our Napa office Maria Gema Rapolla had three closings; Ida Clark Ramos had two closings and Dana Adana and Ana Jauregui each had a closing.
In the Petaluma office, Joann Claeyssens had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa office: Laurie Parris had three closings and Jana Adams, Jill Rake and Beth Sirks each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Randy Coffman had two closings and Bette Meritt, Harvey Charnofsky, Mark Ciddio, Sandra Mathews, William Cole, Mary Jansen, Randy Knight, Martha Saly, Jeffrey Seligson, Doug Suma and Liz Uribe each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Michael Crain of Michael Crain Properties had three closings; Herb Heil and Isaac Raboy of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate had two closings each and Patty Marken and Mari Johnson each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Rianne Paquariello had two closings and Linda Alioto, David Barker and Liz Manfree each enjoyed a closing.
Congratulations to all