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Wine Country Market Analysis April 2012

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (990) in Sonoma County at the end of April was 55% lower than last year (2,207) and 4% lower than the supply last month (1,032).  This is the first time that the inventory of available homes in the County has fallen below 1,000 units since March 2005, seven years ago.  The decline in inventory reversed itself in both Napa and Marin Counties in April, but did not do so yet in Sonoma County.  New sales in April (702) were 31% ahead of the pace in April 2011 (537) and they were 10% ahead of the pace of last month (640).  This is the highest level of sales for any month since June 2005.  There is only a 1.4 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 April in Sonoma County was $324,000 and was 8% higher than homes sold a year ago. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 18% of the available inventory (continuing to decrease), 49% of new sales (a lower percentage than last month) and 44% of closings for the month.  There is only a one half months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.  The median price of the distressed homes sold in the month was $260,000, 8% ahead of last year.
 

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (137) at the end of April in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 49% from the month of April 2011 (269).  It was slightly lower than a month ago (141).  There were 64 new sales for the month.  That is 23% higher than that of a year ago (52) and 12% ahead of that of last month (57).  This is the highest level of new sales in the Sonoma Valley since May 2005.  There is currently a 2.1 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in April represent 11% of the inventory, 38% of the new sales and 41% of the closings.  The impact of distressed sales on the market continues to decline and there is only a 0.6% months supply of distressed properties available based on the current sales pace.
 

Healdsburg Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (72) in Healdsburg at the end of April was down 48% from that of last year (139) and slightly below that of last month (78).  Inventory has leveled off since the first of the year.  New sales (22) were up 57% from the 14 new sales in April 2011 and down 24% from the 29 sales last month.  There is a 3.3 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace.  Only 4% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 23% of the new sales were distressed properties and 19% of the closings were distressed properties.  There is a 0.8 months supply of inventory based on the inventory and sales pace of distressed properties.  These are the lowest ratios of distressed properties in all of Wine Country.

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
 

Go Between

The other night, while I was working on a crossword puzzle, I came across an interesting clue.  It was “Go between”.  The word was five letters long and began with an “a”.  As you might guess, the answer was “agent”.  It gave me pause to think of our activities as real estate agents, and I think it’s a pretty apt description.

We are the “go between” between our client’s desires and their reality.  If our client is a buyer, we are taking their expressed dreams and helping them to find a place that will hold them.  If our client is a seller, we are working with the changes in their lives motivating them to sell and helping them to achieve their goals.  We are the “go between”.

I always express that we are helping our clients with transitions that involve how they live and work and that we are in the “Transition Management” business.  As our clients go through their transitions, we are the “go between” that deals with the real estate part of the equation.

So, the next time that someone asks me what I do for a living, I’m going to say, “I’m a Go Between” and see what kind of reaction I get.  

Have fun!