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Wine Country Real Estate Market Analysis, May 2012

Sonoma County Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (1035) in Sonoma County at the end of May was 53% lower than last year (2,180) and 4.5% higher than the supply last month (990).  This is the first up-tick in inventory since April of last year.  We have been waiting for more units to come on the market.  New sales in May (728) were 30% ahead of the pace in May 2011 (561) and they were 14% ahead of the pace of last month (640).  Closings for the month totaled 559 units.  This is the highest number of closed sales for any month since September 2005, seven years ago.  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 May in Sonoma County was $309,000 and was slightly lower than the average price of homes sold a year ago. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) make up 14% of the available inventory (continuing to decrease).  The 148 distressed units available at the end of May was the lowest level for any month in the last five years.  44% of new sales and 45% of closings for the month were distressed properties.  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 $250,000, 6% ahead of last year.

Sonoma Valley Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (157) at the end of May in the Sonoma Valley (Sonoma, Glen Ellen and Kenwood) was down 43% from the month of May 2011 (274).  It was 14.6% ahead of a month ago (137).  This is the first real tick-up in inventory since March 2011.  There were 84 new sales for the month.  This is 61.5% higher than that of a year ago (52) and 40% ahead of that of last month (60).  This is the highest level of new sales in the Sonoma Valley since March 2004 when there were 107.  It is the second highest number of sales in the Sonoma Valley for any month in the past twelve years.  There is currently a 1.9 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace. Distressed properties (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure) in the Sonoma Valley in May represent 11% of the inventory, 35% of the new sales and 31% 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 (86) in Healdsburg at the end of May was down 42% from that of last year (148) and 19% ahead of that of last month (72).  New sales (29) were up 53% from the 19 new sales in May 2011 and up 71% from the 17 sales last month.  There is a 3 months supply of inventory in Healdsburg based on the current sales pace.  Only 3% of the inventory in Healdsburg consists of “distressed properties” (bank-owned, short sale or foreclosure), but 38% of the new sales were distressed properties and 30% of the closings were distressed properties.  There is a 0.3 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.
 

Sebastopol Trends: The inventory of homes and condominiums for sale (85) in Sebastopol at the end of May was 31% lower than that of May 2011 (123) and it was 20% higher than that of last month (71).  There were 37 new sales for the month.  This is 23% ahead of the pace of a year ago (30) and equal to the pace of the last month (39).  There is a 2.3 months supply of inventory based on the current sales pace.  Distressed properties represent 12% of the inventory, 29% of the new sales for the month and 29% of the closings.  There is just 0.9 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