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January, 2012 – Wine Country Real Estate Market Analysis

January, 2012 – Wine Country Real Estate Market Analysis
By Gerrett Snedaker, CRB Senior Vice President, North Bay Wine Country Group Realtors

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1,098) in Sonoma County at the end of January was 44.9% lower than last year (1,993) and 8% lower than the supply last month (1,193).  This is the lowest level of inventory of available homes in the County since March of 2005, over six years ago.  New sales in January (611) were 42.8% ahead of the pace in January 2010 (428) and they were 23% ahead of the pace of last month (495).  This is the highest level of sales for any month since August 2005.  And, to have this sales pace in January is extraordinary.

There is only a 1.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace – a continuing indication of what we would normally call a strong “seller’s market”.  The median price of homes closed in January in Sonoma County was $306,000 and was slightly ahead of the median price of homes sold a year ago, $300,000.  Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 30% of the available inventory, 62% of new sales and 56% of closings for the month.  There is only 0.9 months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.  This is the highest level of distressed property sales in any month for which we have data.  It almost appears that there is a rush to purchase these distressed homes before the supply dries up.  The median price of the distressed homes sold in January 2012 was $269,000 compared to $261,000 a year ago.

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (78) in Healdsburg at the end of January was down 18.7% from that of last year (96) and was up 10% from last month (71).  New sales (18) were up 12.5% from the 16 new sales in January 2010 and up 28.6% from the 14 sales last month.  There is a 4.3 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace and that is the lowest level in the past two years.  Only 8% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 33% of the new sales were distressed properties and 33% of the closings were distressed properties.  There is less than a one months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (144) at the end of January in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 28.4% from the month of January 2011 (201).  It was 6% lower than that of a month ago (153).  This is the lowest level of inventory since April 2005. There were 55 new sales for the month that is 72% higher than that of a year ago (32) and 90% ahead of that of last month (29).  There is currently a 2.8 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace.  The median price of the homes closed (31) in the Valley in January was $400,000, the same as a year ago.  Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in January (31) represent 22% of the inventory, 55% of the new sales and 48% of the closings.  There is only a one months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.


If you would like a monthly update of this information, or information on other market areas, please drop me an e-mail at gsned@winecountrygroup.com, 
Gerrett Snedaker, CRB Senior Vice President, North Bay Wine Country Group Realtors