Wine Country Real Estate Trends in June 2016 and for the 1st Half of 2016
Loss: We lost a good friend and colleague, Kent Mitchell, this week. Kent joined the Frank Howard Allen Realtors – Wine Country Group office in Healdsburg in November of 2001. He was a good friend of Scott Rader, our leader/manager in Healdsburg at that time, and Scott encouraged him in his real estate career. I remember Kent diligently working at our Wine Country Group summer picnics along with Scott, Deke DeKay and Tom Lawrence. I will miss Kent’s great attitude and professionalism. Below is a link to an article from the Healdsburg Tribune that tells much more about how Kent contributed to the greater Healdsburg community. Our prayers and best wishes go to his family and friends at this time.
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group Results for June 2016 and 1st Half of 2016
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group had 45 closings in June 2016 compared to 60 a year ago and 46 last month. In June, we closed homes with a total value of $30 million compared to $50 million a year ago and $31 last month. The average selling price of the properties sold by the Wine Country Group in June was $658,609 compared to $842,310 a year ago and $676,884 last month. The Sebastopol office led the BHGRE-WCG with 10 closings in the month. The Healdsburg, Sonoma and Santa Rosa offices each had 8 closings. The Sonoma office led the Group with $6.0 million in dollar volume for the month while the Healdsburg office had $5.3 million, the Santa Rosa office had $5.2 million and the Sebastopol office had $4.8 million.
BHGRE – WCG opened 67 new escrows for the month compared to 64 a year ago and 63 last month. The Group had 19 new listings compared to 18 in June 2015 and 21 last month. We currently have 73 pending sales with a value of $51 million dollars. We have 85 active listings with a value of $85 million dollars. Our average listing price is $1,003,000. This is 10% higher than the $913,000 average a year ago.
1st Half of 2016 Results for BHGRE-WCG:
Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group finished the first six months of the year about 10% behind it’s production numbers for the same period in 2015. We had 270 transaction sides for a total of $172 million in sales volume compared to 300 sales and $201 million in sales volume a year ago. Our average closing price for all of our transactions in the first half of the year was $639,114 compared to $671,000 a year ago. This amounts to a 5% decrease in average closing price. Our Napa office made a significant gain in its number of sales achieving 40.5 sales in the first six months of the year compared to 22 a year ago.
Wine Country Real Estate results for June 2016:
(Note – this report is abbreviated this month due to my being out of town. I promise to cover all areas again in July’s update. Thank you.)
Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of June stood at 945 compared to 838 a year ago and 825 last month. This is a 13% increase on a year over year basis and an 14.5% increase from last month. New sales (568) in June were about equal to that of last June (565) and were 3% ahead of the pace of last month (552). There is a 1.7 months supply of inventory in Sonoma County based on the existing sales pace. This is a small, but, perhaps, indicative increase in the available inventory. The time it takes to sell a home in Sonoma County (Days on Market) is 52 days – about the same as a year ago (53). The median price of homes closed in June in Sonoma County was $569,000. This is a 9.4% increase over the median price in June 2015 ($520,000). The median price has ranged between $500,000 and $550,000 over the past twelve months and double-digit appreciation seems to have abated except in certain markets and price ranges. The current median price is 4% below the peak median price for the County ($589,000) recorded in June 2005.
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 4% increase in the number of Luxury Homes closed (259) from 7/1/15 to 6/30/16 compared to 248 from 7/1/14 to 6/30/15. The pace of closings of Luxury Homes in June (29) was 4% ahead of a month ago (28) and was 9% behind the pace of a year ago (32). New sales (35) were 4% ahead of last month (32), but were 17% ahead of a year ago (30). There were 236 luxury properties in inventory at the end of June compared to 226 last month and 207 a year ago. The Days on Market for Luxury Home sales was 64 days this June compared to 62 days a year ago. This compares to 52 Days on Market for all closed properties in the County in June. May-June can be categorized as a strong selling market for the high end. There is a 6.7 months supply of inventory of luxury properties based upon the current sales pace compared to a 1.7 months supply in the overall Sonoma County market.
Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of June (84) was slightly higher than last month (82) and was 15% ahead of last year (73). There were 22 new sales for the month. This is about equal to the pace in June 2015 (23) and slightly ahead of the pace last month (20). The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace is 3.8 months. The Days on Market for the 23 homes closed in June was 54 days compared to 54 days a year ago and 97 days last month.
Petaluma: The months supply of homes in Petaluma climbed slightly above one month in June. The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (75) in Petaluma at the end of June was 11% behind the inventory in June 2015 (84) and it was 9% ahead of the inventory last month (69). There were 67 new sales for the month compared to 67 last month and 69 last June. The median price of the 58 homes that closed in June was $626,000. This is 3.4% higher than the median price a year ago ($605,000) – so price appreciation was flat on a year over year basis. The Days on Market for the closed sales for the month was 41 days compared to 49 a year ago and 50 last month – so the market in Petaluma is moving relatively quickly.
Rohnert Park and Cotati: Rohnert Park and Cotati remains the most volatile market in Wine Country. There were 61 new sales in June compared to 61 last month and 64 in June 2015. Inventory began the month at 41 homes and ended the month at 47 homes. So, as new inventory comes on the market, it sells almost immediately. There is just a 0.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 58 homes that closed in Rohnert Park and Cotati in June was just 40 days compared to 44 days a year ago and 41 days last month. The median price ($450,000) closed in June was 14% higher than the median price of closed homes a year ago ($394,000). This is higher than the appreciation factor (9.4%) for the County as a whole in June.
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of June (324) was 11% higher than that of a year ago (293) and was 20% ahead of the inventory last month (271). Sales also climbed. New sales in June (239) were 7% ahead of the pace of last month (223) and were 3% ahead of the pace of last June (233). 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 185 homes closed in June in Santa Rosa was $510,000 compared to $470,000 a year ago – an 8.5% increase. The Days on Market for the homes closed in June in Santa Rosa was 48 days compared to 57 a year ago and 52 days last month.
Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (141) in June in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was 18.5% ahead of the inventory in June 2015 (119) and was 11% ahead of the inventory of last month (127). This equals the inventory of two years ago. There were 43 new sales for the month. This is about equal to the pace of sales in June 2015 (44) and 12% below the pace of last month (49). There is a 3,3 months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales. The Days on Market for the 56 closed sales in Sonoma in June was 67 days compared to 46 a year ago and 59 last month. 55% of the inventory in the Sonoma Valley is priced at $1,000,000 or above while 28% of the new sales (12) were priced at $1,000,000 or more. The high-end quartile (top 25%) of inventory in the Sonoma Valley at the end of June started at $2,300,000. There were 34 sales in the top quartile (excess of $2,300,000) over the past twelve months. The months of available inventory in the high-end is 7.2 months compared to 3.3 months for the overall market.
Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale in Napa County at the end of June (373) is 4% below the inventory in June 2015 (389) and is also 4% below the inventory last month (388). New sales (159) were 8% ahead of the pace last year (147) and 5% ahead of the pace of last month (152). There is a 2.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 148 homes closed in June was 62 days compared to 69 days a year ago and 53 days last month. The median price of homes closed in June in Napa County ($618,000) was 5.6% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($585,000). The current median price remains 8% 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 number of sales (63) of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $2,300,000) in Napa County is 21% ahead for the period 7/1/15 to 6/30/16 compared to 7/1/14 to 6/30/15 (52 homes). There were 91 luxury homes in inventory at the end of June 2016 compared to 90 at the end of June 2015. There is a 8.3 months supply of available Luxury Homes based on the current sales pace compared to 15 months supply last year.
Up Valley Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (139) in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) at the end of June 2016 was 15% above the level of 121 in June 2015 and it was about equal to the level last month (141). There were 27 new sales for the month compared to 23 a year ago and 20 last month. Sales have been steady in the mid teens to mid twenties range for over a year. There is now a 5.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 20 closings last month was 85 days compared to 96 days in June a year ago and 68 days last month. The overall county has 62 Days on Market.