Wine Country Real Estate Value Trends – 1998-2014

One of our clients recently asked the following intriguing question: Do we have access to data that shows regional trends (Wine Country) in residential sales prices over the past fifteen years? Just so happens that we began recording data for our Wine Country offices in 1998. Based on our sample size (from 300 to 1,052 units per year) it should be representative of the regional trends. I find the results quite interesting.

Prices appreciated 67% from 1998 to 2001. They dipped 2% in 2002 as the market adjusted to 9/11. They then appreciated 60% from 2002 to 2006. The overall appreciation between 1998 and 2006 was 160% or 20% per year on average. Since 2006, prices declined 40% through 2009, or down 13% per year on average. In 2010, our average selling price increased 12% and in 2011, it decreased by 6%.   In 2012, it increased 11%, in 2013, it increased by 14%, and in 2014 it increased by 18%. So, prices today are 138% higher than they were in 1998, or an average annual appreciation rate over the past 16 years of 8.6%. The average sales price for our transactions in 2014 was $649,000 which is below the level that we had from 2005 to 2007, but above the level that we had in 2004 – $539,000 and above the levels that we’ve had from 2008 to 2013.