Wine Country Real Estate Trends in March 2016

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Better Homes and Garderns Real Estate – Wine Country Group Results for March 2016

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate – Wine Country Group had 42 closings in March 2016 compared to 54 a year ago and 44 last month. In March, we closed homes with a total value of $30 million compared to $32.8 million a year ago and $26.4 last month. The average selling price of the properties sold by the Wine Country Group in March was $714,437 compared to $608,721 a year ago and $600,824 last month. The Healdsburg and Sonoma offices each had 10 closings in the month and the Sebastopol office had 9. The Healdsburg office had $8.2 million in dollar volume for the month while the Sonoma office had $6.8 million and the Sebastopol office had $5.8 million.

BHGRE-WCG opened 68 new escrows for the month compared to 55 a year ago and 51 last month. The Group had 30 new listings compared to 34 in March 2015 and 31 last month. We currently have 63 pending sales with a value of $40 million dollars. We have 73 active listings with a value of $70 million dollars. Our average listing price is $958,000. This is 3% higher than the $933,000 average a year ago.

 Wine Country Real Estate Results for March 2016:

 Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of March stood at 599 compared to 685 a year ago and 537 last month. This is a 13% decrease on a year over year basis and a 11.5% increase from last month.  It is only 20% of the inventory that the County had in March of 2008 (2,950). New sales (521) in March were 1% ahead of last March (517) and were 39% ahead of the pace of last month (376). Strong demand and light supply creates a 1.1 months supply of inventory in Sonoma County based on the existing sales pace. In March 2008, there was a 7.6 months supply of inventory. The time it takes to sell a home in Sonoma County (Days on Market) is 65 days – the same as a year ago. The median price of homes closed in March in Sonoma County was $531,000. This is an 11% increase over the median price in March 2015 ($478,000). The current median price is 10% 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 (283) from 4/1/15 to 3/31/16 compared to 253 from 4/1/14 to 3/31/15. The pace of closings of Luxury Homes in March (21) jumped up from the low of 7 last month. New sales (25) were strong for the month. There were 152 luxury properties in inventory at the end of March compared to 128 last month and 146 a year ago. The Days on Market for Luxury Home sales was 110 days this March compared to 83 days a year ago. This compares to 65 Days on Market for all closed properties in the County in March.

Coastal Sonoma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Coastal Sonoma (Bodega Bay, Jenner and Stewart’s Point) at the end of March (22) was 18.5% below the inventory a year ago (27) and 22% ahead of the inventory last month (18). There were 5 new home sales for the month of March compared to 9 a year ago and 9 last month. The Days on Market of the 8 homes that closed in March was 99 days compared to 204 days last month for the four properties that closed then.

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of March (59) jumped nearly 50% from last month (40) and was 28% ahead of last year (46). There were 22 new sales for the month. This is exactly equal to the pace in March 2015 and just one sale ahead of the pace last month (21). The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace is 2.7 months. The Days on Market for the 23 homes closed in March was 108 days compared to 72 days a year ago and 149 days last month.

Petaluma: New sales jumped nearly 75% in Petaluma from 38 in March to 66 in April. Sales were 74% ahead on a month over month basis and were 22% ahead on a year over year basis. In a month that began with 55 units in inventory, there were 66 sales and the inventory ended the month with 48 units. The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (48) in Petaluma at the end of March was 19% behind the inventory in March 2015 (59) and it was 13% behind the inventory last month (55). There is just a 0.7 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 38 homes that closed in March was $644,000. This is 23% ahead of the median last March ($525,000). This is almost double the appreciation rate in the County as a whole. The Days on Market for the closed sales for the month was 45 days compared to 55 a year ago and 67 last month. It was an extraordinary month for real estate in Petaluma.

Rohnert Park and Cotati:  Despite the strong selling market in Petaluma in March, Rohnert Park and Cotati remains the most volatile market in Wine Country. New sales (67) jumped up 81% from 37 last month and they were76% ahead of the sales in March 2015 (38). Inventory began the month at 25 homes and ended the month at 25 homes. Inventory is 39% lower than it was in March 2015 (41). There is a 0.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 47 homes that closed in Rohnert Park and Cotati in March was 56 – the same as it was last year and last month. The median price ($455,000) closed in March was 28% higher than the median price of closed homes a year ago ($356,000).

Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of March (193) was 23% lower than that of a year ago (251) and was 5.5% ahead of the inventory last month (183). New sales in March (217) jumped up 39% ahead of the pace of last month (156) and were 7% behind the pace in last March (234). There is only a 0.9 months supply of available homes in Santa Rosa based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 217 homes closed in March in Santa Rosa was $512,000 compared to $450,000 a year ago – a 14% increase. The Days on Market for the homes closed in March in Santa Rosa was 58 days compared to 62 a year ago and 58 last month.

Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (36) in Sebastopol at the end of March was slightly lower than that of March 2015 (38) and it was 38.5% higher than that of last month (26). There were 125 homes in inventory in Sebastopol in March 2009. There were 23 new sales for the month of March. This is 91% ahead of the pace (12) last month and about equal to the pace in March 2015 (24). There is a 1.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market of the 17 closed homes in Sebastopol in March was 71 days compared to 93 days a year ago and 123 days last month.

Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (95) in March in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was equal to the level of last March and it was 32% ahead of the inventory of last month (72). There were 47 new sales for the month. This is 19% below the pace of sales in March 2015 (58) and it is 52% ahead of the pace of last month (31). There is a two months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales. The Days on Market for the 38 closed sales in Sonoma in March was 65 days compared to 62 a year ago and 71 last month. Over 56% of the inventory in the Sonoma Valley is priced at $1,000,000 or above while 28% of the new sales (11) were priced at $1,000,000 or more. There were 48% more sales (46) in the top quartile (excess of $2,100,000) in the Sonoma Valley over the past twelve months than the prior twelve months (31).

Windsor: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (32) in Windsor at the end of March is up 46% from the 22 homes in inventory in March 2015 and it is 33% more than the 24 homes last month. There were 24 new sales in Windsor in March. This is 11% behind of the sales in March 2015 (27) and 20% behind the 30 sales last month. There is a 1.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 23 sales that closed in March in Windsor was $520,000. This is 2% lower than the median price ($533,000) of the 22 homes closed last March.

Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale in Napa County in March (295) is about equal to the inventory in March 2015 (297) and 21% ahead of the inventory last month (244). This is the first month since last October that there has been an increase in inventory in Napa County. New sales (128) were 11% behind the pace last year (144) and 5% ahead of the pace of last month (122). There is a 2.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 108 homes closed in March was 84 days compared to 83 days a year ago and 95 days last month. The median price of homes closed in March in Napa County ($600,000) was 9.5% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($548,000). The current median price remains 11% 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 of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $2,300,000) in Napa County is the same (55 homes) for the period 4/1/15 to 3/31/16 compared to 4/1/14 to 3/31/15. There were 72 luxury homes in inventory at the end of March 2016 compared to 57 at the end of March 2015. There is a 10.3 months supply of available Luxury Homes based on the current sales pace compared to 7.1 months supply last year. It will be interesting to see if that supply is reduced in the coming months.

Napa: There were 159 available homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of March in the City of Napa. This is about equal to the inventory a year ago (161) and it is 25% ahead of the supply last month (127). New sales (96) were also about equal to the pace of March 2015 (98) and they were 20% ahead of the pace of last month (80). There is a 1.7 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 76 homes closed in March in the City of Napa was 75 days compared to 75 days in March 2015 and 85 days last month. The median price of the homes that closed in Napa in March was $585,000. This is 6.7% ahead of the median price of the homes closed in March 2015 ($548,000). The median price in March 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 (96) in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) at the end of March 2016 was slightly above the level of 94 in March 2015 and it was 23% ahead of the level last month (76). Inventory climbed for the first time since October. There were 17 new sales for the month compared to 28 (-39%) a year ago and 22 (-23%) last month. There is now a 5.6 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 16 closings last month was 108 days compared to 106 days in March a year ago and 108 days last month.

Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from March 1 to March 31, 2016:

In our Bodega Bay office: Deborah Melancon had a closing.

In our Healdsburg office: Debbie Alder, Linda Farwell, Gina Cleaver, Judy Csimma, Mike Downes, Dee Grohmann, Debby Hendershot, Tom Lawrence, Samantha Marquis, Rico Ruthnick and Diane Harris each had a closing.

In our Napa office Maria Gema Rapolla had two closings and Freddie Diaz and Kacy Kinder each had a closing.

In the Petaluma office, Paul Claeyssens had a closing.

In our Santa Rosa office: Lynn and Ron Crocker had two closings and Laurie Parris, Sarah Carlson and Jill Rake each had a closing.

In our Sebastopol office: Randy Coffman, Parmetta Ghoman, Harvey Charnofsky, Sabrina Roncancio, Mary Jansen, Randy Knight, Jeffrey Seligson and Doug Suma each had a closing.

in our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan enjoyed three closings; Mara Kahn and Eric Undercoffler had two closings each and Diane Litchfield, Leo Merle and Mari Johnson each had a closing.

And, in our St. Helena office: Linda Alioto enjoyed three closings.

Congratulations to all