Wine Country Real Estate Trends in October 2014
Wine Country Group Results for October 2014:
The Wine Country Group had 66 closings in October 2014 compared to 61 a year ago and 60 last month. In October, we closed homes with a total value of $39.8 million compared to $35.4 million a year ago and $38.4 last month. The average selling price of the properties sold by the Wine Country Group in October was $603,754 compared to $581,061 a year ago and $639,184 last month. The Santa Rosa office led this month with 22 closings while the Sonoma office had 13 closings and the Napa office had 8. The Santa Rosa office also led in dollar volume with $12.3 million in closings while the Sonoma office had $9.8 million.
The Wine Country Group opened 72 new escrows for the month compared to 67 a year ago and 81 last month. The Group had 25 new listings compared to 26 in October 2013 and 27 last month. We currently have 96 pending sales with a value of $61 million dollars. We have 108 active listings with a value of $103 million dollars. Our average listing price is $956,000. This is 1% ahead of the $944,000 average a year ago.
Wine Country Real Estate results for October 2014:
Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of October stood at 851 compared to 926 last month and 871 a year ago. This is a 2% decrease on a year over year basis and a 8% decrease from last month – almost identical to the trend last month. Inventory plateaued in August and it is reasonable to expect it to continue to moderate going through the fall and winter. Last year, inventory reached a low in December and started to rise in March. New sales (516) in October were 10.5% ahead of that of last October (467) and were 13% ahead of that of last month (457). New sales have sustained a healthy pace in this range over the past six months. There is just a 1.6 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 67 days compared to 65 a year ago. This selling period has stabilized as the norm over the past year. The median price of homes closed in October in Sonoma County was $460,000. This is an 8% increase over the median price in October 2013 ($427,000). The median price for closed sales has been in a relatively narrow range since March of this year. The current median price is still 19% 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 (sales price in excess of $1,000,000). There has been a 19% increase in the number of Luxury Homes closed (369) from 11/1/13 to 10/31/14 compared to 311 from 11/1/12 to 10/31/13. There were 215 luxury properties in inventory at the end of October compared to 222 last month and 228 a year ago. Days on Market for closed Luxury sales dropped from 128 days last year to 80 days this year.
Cloverdale Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Cloverdale (34) at the end of October 2014 was equal to that of a year ago and was 17% below the level of the inventory last month (41). There were 16 new homes sold in October 2014 compared to 20 a year ago and 12 last month. There is a 2.8 months supply of available inventory in Cloverdale based on the current pace of new sales. The Days on Market for the 12 homes that closed in Cloverdale in October was 103 days compared to 67 in the County as a whole.
Coastal Sonoma: October is one of the most beautiful months on the Sonoma Coast! The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Coastal Sonoma (Bodega Bay, Jenner and Stewart’s Point) at the end of October (32) was 11% below the inventory a year ago (36) and slightly above the inventory last month (30). There were 4 new home sales for the month of October compared to 13 a year ago and 9 last month. There is an 8 months supply of available inventory in the Coastal Sonoma market based on the current pace of new sales. The Days on Market of the 8 homes that closed in October was a 65 days compared to 189 days a year ago and 73 days last month.
Healdsburg Trends: There were 67 homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of October. This is 24% ahead of the inventory last October (54) and 10% below the inventory of last month (74). There were 19 new sales for the month. This is 19% ahead of the pace in October 2013 (16) and about equal to the pace last month (20). The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace fell to 3.5 months. The Days on Market for the 14 homes closed in October was 102 days compared to 89 days a year ago and 101 days last month.
Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (82) in Petaluma at the end of October was equal to the inventory in October 2013 (82) and it was slightly ahead of the inventory last month (80). New sales in October (54) were 13% behind the 62 new sales in October 2013 and 29% ahead of the sales last month (42). The pattern of new sales in Petaluma has been “choppy” over the past six months. There is just a 1.5 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 43 homes that closed in October was $475,000. This is slightly below the median last October ($480,000). The Days on Market for the closed sales for the month was 55 – the same as it was a year ago. This is the lowest “Days on Market” in all of Wine Country. Homes sell more quickly in Petaluma!
Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of October (298) was 5% ahead of that of a year ago (283) and was about equal to the inventory last month (302). New sales in October (208) were 12% ahead of the pace in October 2013 (186) and they were 13% ahead of the pace of last month (184). 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 182 homes closed in September in Santa Rosa was $435,000 compared to $385,000 a year ago – a 13% increase. The Days on Market for the homes closed in October was 60 days compared to 54 days a year ago.
Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (39) in Sebastopol at the end of October was 20% lower than that of October 2013 (49) and it was 13% lower than that of last month (45). Inventory remains near a twelve month low in Sebastopol. There were 30 new sales for the month of October. This is 20% ahead of the pace in October 2013 (25) and 15% ahead of the pace of the last month (26). There is just a 1.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market of the 18 closed homes in Sebastopol in October was 56 days compared to 62 days a year ago. As in Petaluma, the supply of homes is tight and those that are selling are selling quickly.
Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (103) in October in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was 12% below the level of last October (117) and it was 15% below the inventory of last month (121). There were 63 new sales for the month – a healthy pace. This is 31% ahead of the pace of sales in October 2013 (48) and it is 21% ahead of the pace last month (52). There is a 1.6 months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales. The Days on Market for the 49 closed sales in Sonoma in October was 85 days compared to 64 a year ago and 96 last month. Nearly one-half of the inventory in the Sonoma Valley is priced at $1,000,000 or above while 20% of the new sales and 20% of the closings last month were priced at $1,000,000 or more. About the same number of homes over $1,000,000 have sold in the past twelve months versus the prior twelve months – 109 vs. 105.
Windsor: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (43) in Windsor at the end of October decreased slightly from the 46 homes last month and was 8.5% below the 47 homes in October 2013. Inventory has increased from just 20 homes in April to 43 at the end of October. New sales in Windsor in October (25) were slightly behind the sales in October 2013 (28) and were about equal to the 27 sales last month. There is a 1.7 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 23 sales that closed in October in Windsor was $485,000. This is 2% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($477,000).
Napa County: The median price of homes closed in Napa hit a high of $584,000 in September but settled back down to $521,000 in October. $521,000 is 7% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($485,000). The current median price is 23% below the peak median price for the County ($675,000) recorded in June 2006. The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale in Napa County in October continued to decline. The inventory (408) is 4% lower than it was in September (425) and 5 higher than it was a year ago (389). New sales (121) were equal to the pace last year (119) and also equal to the pace of last month (122). There is a 3.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 124 homes closed in October was 88 days compared to 92 days a year ago and 95 days last month.
Napa County Luxury Homes: If one takes the highest quartile (25%) of available inventory as the “Luxury Market”, the Luxury Market begins at $1,800,000 in Napa County at this time. The Sales of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $1,800,000) in Napa County have increased 43% for the period 11/1/13 to 10/31/14 (83) compared to 11/1/12 to 10/31/13 (58). There were 11 luxury homes that closed in October 2014 compared to five last year and 6 last month. There were 104 luxury homes in inventory at the end of October 2014 compared to 103 at the end of October 2013. There is a 10.6 months supply of available Luxury Homes based on the current sales pace compared to 12.9 months supply last year. The Days on Market for the 11 closings of Luxury Homes in October was 213 days compared to 341 days a year ago. Clearly – homes in this price range stay on the market for a longer period of time.
Napa: There were 223 available homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of October in the City of Napa. This is 9% higher than the inventory a year ago (204) and it is about equal to the supply last month (220). New sales (77) were 6% below the pace of October 2013 (82) and they were 7% below the pace of last month (83). There is a 2.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 92 homes closed in October in the City of Napa was 83 days compared to 79 days in October 2013. The median price of the homes that closed in Napa in October was $506,000. This is 4% ahead of the median price in October 2013 ($485,000). The median price in October remains 22% below the peak median price in the City of Napa ($650,000) recorded in August 2006.
Up Valley: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (129) in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) at the end of October 2014 was 15% below the level of 151 in October 2013 and it was 12% below the level last month (147). There were 25 new sales for the month compared to 27 last month and 19 a year ago – so the sales pace remains steady. With this sales pace there is a 5.2 months supply of inventory compared to 7.9 months a year ago. The Days on Market for the 23 closings last month was 121 days compared to 150 days in October a year ago and 88 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 October1 to October 31, 2014:
In our Cloverdale office: Ron and Jane Pavelka enjoyed two closings.
In our Healdsburg office: Jose Hernandez and Linda Farwell had two closings each and Kent Mitchell and Ken Knight each had a closing.
In our Napa office: Nick Simone enjoyed three closings; Billy Birdsong had two closings and Tressa Anderson had a closing.
In our Petaluma office: JoAnn Claeyssens, Paul Claeyssens, Scott Murphy and Randy Haak each had a closing.
In our Santa Rosa office: Amy Leyack, Donald Hamilton and Christen Hamilton had three closings each; Tommy Apostolides, Charles Himes and Donald Jaramillo had two closings each and Lindsay Ehrlicher, Keith Carinalli, James Famini, Debra Giambastiani Reis, Mark Payne and Carlos Rivas of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate each had a closing.
In our Sebastopol office: Bette Meritt had two closings and Liz Uribe, Jeff Seligson and Martha Saly each had a closing.
In our Sonoma office: Sheila Deignan had a Wine Country Group leading six closings and Dan Gallagher, Mara Kahn, Carl MacPetrie, Erick Rothfeld and Patty Keiser each had a closing.
And, in our St. Helena office: Rianne Pasquariello enjoyed two closings and Liz Manfree, Linda Alioto and David Barker each had a closing.
Congratulations to all