2015 Year Wrap-up and Wine Country Real Estate Trends in December

What Happened in Wine Country Real Estate in 2015?

(This data below is taken from BAREIS MLS representing properties in the MLS system and does not represent all real estate activities in the market. The information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.)

The number of closings of single-family homes and condominiums in Wine Country (Sonoma and Napa Counties) increased 5% in 2015 compared to 2014. The average sales price of all of the closed homes increased by 7.4%. So, the overall dollar volume of sales was ahead by 12.7% year over year. The results were different in Sonoma and Napa Counties. In Sonoma, there were 5,524 closings for the year compared to 5,332 in 2014 – an increase of 3.6%.   The average sales price of all of the homes sold in Sonoma County increased from $572,000 in 2014 to $616,000 – a 7.7% increase.   In Napa County, there were 1,435 closings in 2015 compared to 1,293 in 2014 – an 11% increase. The average sales price increased by 4.6% from $774,000 to $810,000.

Wine Country Group Results for 2015

 The Wine Country Group closed 630 homes in 2015. These sales had an aggregate value in excess of $403 million dollars. The average sales price of all Wine Country Group closings in 2015 was $640,865.

The Sonoma office led the Wine Country Group with 152 closings for the year. The Sebastopol office (including Bodega Bay) had 120 closings, Healdsburg 98, Santa Rosa 75, St. Helena 65, Napa 55, Petaluma 46 and Cloverdale 19.

Wine Country Group Results for December 2015:

 The Wine Country Group had 57 closings in December 2015 compared to 54 a year ago and 51 last month. In December, we closed homes with a total value of $30.7 million compared to $31 million a year ago and $30.7 last month. The average selling price of the properties sold by the Wine Country Group in December was $539,694 compared to $574,433 a year ago (a decrease of 6.0%) and $601,611 last month. The Sebastopol office led in December with 15 closings while the Sonoma office had 13 closings and the Napa office had 11. The Sebastopol office also led in dollar volume with $10.4 million in closings while the Sonoma office had $8.1.

The Wine Country Group opened 47 new escrows for the month compared to 40 a year ago and 38 last month. The Group had 8 new listings compared to 12 in December 2014 and 5 last month. We currently have 44 pending sales with a value of $31 million dollars. We have 59 active listings with a value of $66 million dollars. Our average listing price is $1,126,000. This is 12% higher than the $1,001,000 average a year ago.

 Wine Country Real Estate results for December 2015:

 Sonoma County: The inventory of single-family homes and condominiums for sale in Sonoma County at the end of December stood at 539 compared to 703 last month and 512 a year ago. This is a 5% increase on a year over year basis and a 23% decrease from last month. This reflects typical trends through the holidays. Inventory is just a bit over one-half of what it was in July (961). It is one fifth of the inventory that the County had in December of 2007 (2,828). New sales (279) in December were 10% ahead of that of last December (253) and were 32% behind the pace of last month (409). There is just a 1.9 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 68 days compared to 80 a year ago. This selling period has stabilized over the past year. The median price of homes closed in December in Sonoma County was $519,000. This is an 8.6% increase over the median price in December 2014 ($478,000). The median price for closed sales has been in a relatively narrow range since April of this year. The current median price is still 12% below the peak median price for the County ($589,000) recorded in June 2005. At this time last year the median was 19% 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 $1,100,000). There has been a 22.5% increase in the number of Luxury Homes closed (332) from 1/1/14 to 12/31/14 compared to 271 from 1/1/13 to 12/31/13. There were 129 luxury properties in inventory at the end of December compared to 164 last month and 139 a year ago. Days on Market for Luxury Home sales was 120 days this December compared to 126 days a year ago. This compares to 79 days on market for all closed properties in the County in December.

Coastal Sonoma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Coastal Sonoma (Bodega Bay, Jenner and Stewart’s Point) at the end of December (22) was 21% below the inventory a year ago (28) and 24% below the inventory last month (29). There were five new home sale for the month of December compared to 1 a year ago and 9 last month. The Days on Market of the 10 homes that closed in December was 127 days compared to 228 days a year ago and 71 days last month. The Days on Market has improved since last year.

Healdsburg Trends: There were 43 homes and condominiums available in Healdsburg at the end of December. This is 16% ahead of the inventory last December (37) and 34% below the inventory of last month (65). There were 13 new sales for the month. This is a bit ahead of the pace in December 2014 (11) and down 28% from the pace last month (18). The months of available inventory based on the current sales pace is 3.1 months. The Days on Market for the 21 homes closed in December was 122 days compared to 61 days a year ago and 104 days last month.

Petaluma: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (43) in Petaluma at the end of December was 13% ahead of the inventory in December 2014 (39) and it was 12% below the inventory last month (47). New sales in Petaluma in December (34) were 10.5% behind the 38 new sales in December 2014 and 28% behind the sales last month (47). There is just a 1.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 46 homes that closed in December was $600,000. This is 14% ahead of the median last December ($525,000). This is almost double the increase in the County as a whole. The Days on Market for the closed sales for the month was 58 days – the same as a year ago.

Rohnert Park and Cotati: Rohnert Park and Cotati remain the most volatile market in Wine Country. There were 32 new sales in December and there were just 21 homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of the month. There is now less than a one months supply of inventory based on this activity. The 21 homes in inventory at the end of December was 16% below the 25 homes in inventory at the end of December 2014, and the 32 new sales was 60% ahead of the 20 new sales in December a year ago. The Days on Market for the 46 homes that closed in Rohnert Park and Cotati in December was 55 days compared to 66 days a year ago and 49 days last month. Not only is this market tight, it has the fastest sale to closing rate in Wine Country.

Santa Rosa: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale in Santa Rosa at the end of December (178) was about equal to that of a year ago (183) and was 20% below the inventory last month (223). New sales in December (114) were 7.5% ahead of the pace in December 2014 (106) and they were 32% below the pace of last month (167). There is only a 1.6 months supply of available homes in Santa Rosa based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 177 homes closed in December in Santa Rosa was $475,000 compared to $437,000 a year ago – an 8.7% increase. The Days on Market for the homes closed in December in Santa Rosa was 68 days – the same as a year ago.

Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (28) in Sebastopol at the end of December was 17% higher than that of December 2014 (24) and it was 38% lower than that of last month (45). There were 18 new sales for the month of December. This is 64% ahead of the pace in December 2014 (11) and 29% ahead of the pace of last month (14). There is a 1.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market of the 19 closed homes in Sebastopol in December was 86 days compared to 79 days a year ago. Sales take about a week to two weeks longer in Sebastopol than in the County as a whole. The median price of the sales that closed in December in Sebastopol was $715,000.   This is 1% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($708,000).

Sonoma Valley: The number of available homes and condominiums for sale (64) in December in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was the same level as last December and it was 28% below the inventory of last month (89). There were only 16 new sales for the month. This is 24% below the pace of sales in December 2014 (21) and it is 60% behind the pace of last month (40). All of a sudden there is a 4 months supply of inventory in Sonoma based on the current pace of sales – the highest in the past two years. The Days on Market for the 33 closed sales in Sonoma in December was 85 days compared to 81 a year ago and 69 last month. Over 45% of the inventory in the Sonoma Valley is priced at $1,000,000 or above while 31% of the new sales (5) and 30% of the closings (11) last month were priced at $1,000,000 or more. There were 15% more sales (30) in the top quartile (excess of $2,500,000) in the Sonoma Valley over the past twelve months than the prior twelve months (26).

Windsor: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (30) in Windsor at the end of December is up 25% from the 24 homes in inventory in December 2014 and is 35% below the 46 homes last month. New sales in Windsor in December (22) were 22% ahead of the sales in December 2014 and were roughly equal to the 23 sales last month. There is a 1.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The median price of the 23 sales that closed in December in Windsor was $528,000.   This is 11% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($475,000).

Napa County: The inventory of homes and condominiums available for sale in Napa County in December (265) is 8% below the inventory in December 2014 (289) and 24% below the inventory last month (349). New sales (90) were 25% ahead of the pace last year and 13% below the pace of last month (103). There is a 2.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 107 homes closed in December was 81 days compared to 95 days a year ago and 90 days last month. The median price of homes closed in December in Napa County ($570,000) settled back from the high level where it was last month ($648,000). It was 18% ahead of the median price of a year ago ($480,000). 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: 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 highest quartile began at $1,600,000 a year ago. The sales of Luxury Homes (sales price in excess of $2,300,000) in Napa County have increased 17% for the period 1/1/15 to 12/31/15 (70) compared to 1/1/14 to 12/31/14 (60). There were 67 luxury homes in inventory at the end of December 2015 compared to 55 at the end of December 2014. There is a 13.4 months supply of available Luxury Homes based on the current sales pace compared to 13.8 months supply last year.

Napa: There were 146 available homes and condominiums in inventory at the end of December in the City of Napa. This is 7% below the inventory a year ago (157) and it is 22% below the supply last month (188). New sales (62) were 29% ahead of the pace of December 2014 (48) and they were about equal to the pace of last month (60). There is a 2.4 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. The Days on Market for the 74 homes closed in December in the City of Napa was 72 days compared to 78 days in December 2014. The median price of the homes that closed in Napa in December was $590,000. This is a whopping 33% ahead of the median price of the homes closed in December 2014 ($449,000). This can be a bit skewed on a month-to-month basis depending on how many high-end homes sell. The median price of homes closed in November 2014 (one month earlier) was $575,000 – so this December’s median is just 3% ahead of that. The median price in December remains 11% 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 (83) in the Up Valley Napa County market (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Oakville, Rutherford, St. Helena and Yountville) at the end of December 2015 was 9% below the level of 91 in December 2014 and it was 23% below the level last month (115). There were 17 new sales for the month compared to 7 a year ago and 22 last month. With this sales pace there is a 4.9 months supply of inventory. This is a relatively low number for the Up Valley market. The Days on Market for the 14 closings last month was 92 days compared to 185 days in December a year ago and 81 days for the County as a whole.

Closings: The following agents enjoyed closings for the period from December 1 to December 31, 2015:

In our Bodega Bay office: Barbara and Paul Cronick had two closings and Deborah Melancon had a closing.

In our Healdsburg office: Diane Harris, Linda Farwell, Gina Cleaver and Mike Downes each had a closing.

In our Napa office: Ida Clark Ramos had four closings; Matt Cole and Judy Delgado had two closings each; Melinda Capp, Freddie Diaz and Patricia Duran each had a closing.

In our Petaluma office: Mehrunnisa Baig and Scott Stevens each had a closing.

In our Santa Rosa office: Linda and Ron Crocker and Jana Adams had two closings each and Jill Rake had a closing.

In our Sebastopol office: Randy Coffman had three closings; Mark Ciddio had two closings and William Cole, Ann Conger, Don Fulkerson, Parmeeta Ghoman, Sandra Matthews, Bette Meritt, Martha Saly and Jeffrey Seligson each had a closing.

In our Sonoma office: Isaac Raboy of Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate had three closings; Sheila Deignan had two closings and Dan Gallagher, Herb Heil, Erin George and Tiffany Knef, Tracy Reynes and Erick Rothfeld each had a closing.

And, in our St. Helena office: David Barker had three closings and Liz Manfree and Rianne Pasquariello had two closings each.

Congratulations to all