How’s The Market?

August 5th, 2014 by Rob Saxe

Part 1 – Sellers

This is a question I get asked regularly. “How’s the market right now?” The answer really depends on why the question is being asked. Are you thinking about selling or buying or both or investing or renting?

Each subject has a different answer. So let’s address each to give you some insight on all segments of our market now.

Today’s post will be on selling. Is it a good time to sell my home?

Any discussion on selling must, in my opinion, be accompanied by a basic market synopsis. One basic fundamental is always present for sellers and that is:

There are always buyers in the market looking for a home like yours.

With that said, what are the buyer behaviors in Rocklin and Roseville right now?

Home Sales in Rocklin and Roseville

One of the indicators of buying activity is the overall sales volume. Over the last 12 months, sales are down roughly 15% over last year. On the surface, this would seem to point to lackluster sales performance at a time when our market is said to be recovering. While sales are down, pending sales are up almost 20% over the same time period.

What the difference in pending sales to sales is anyone’s guess. From June 2013 to December 2013, the pending sales numbers translated to sales numbers that were similar.

This year, from January 2014 to June 2014, that is not the case. Pending sales have been significantly higher than sales every month except May where sales were higher than pending sales.

Confused?? Me too! Smile

Months of Inventory

Another indicator is how many homes are available for sale. Over the last year, the number of homes available for sale has climbed 150% in Rocklin and Roseville. Now, that sounds significant but that is still, at the current pace of sales, only 2.5 months of homes to sell.

Average Sales Price

Over the last year, the average sales price in Rocklin and Roseville has gone up only 6.4%. There have been very few “blips” or sharp increases in the average sales price for the last year. It’s been relatively flat lined. Considering from January 2012 to January 2014 the average sales price increased 51%, the leveling off in the average sales price over the last year really stands out.

Days On The Market – How Long To Sell A Home In Rocklin/Roseville?

The time it takes to sell a home in Rocklin and Roseville has increased from 21 days in June of 2013 to 32 days in June of 2014. This is an increase of 52.4% but has declined to that point from 42 days to sell in April of 2014. This would indicate to me an increase in demand if it weren’t for the increase in homes for sale.

I recently sent out a mailing to my clients that talks about the most recent sales around them within a half mile. My Rocklin and Roseville clients, by far, had the quickest sales in their neighborhoods than in other communities that I serve.

So…

For sellers, we have:

Declining sales over the last year.
More homes on the market to compete with.
An average sales price that has gone up only slightly in the last year and
It’s taking longer to sell than it did just one year ago.

Affordability is taking it’s toll on our market. Home prices have gone up very quickly and with millennial’s being largely out of the market, sellers now have to price their homes aggressively to

Stand out in the market above competing homes to
Get the highest price possible
And sell in under 30 days.

Please understand, this isn’t bad news nor are we in a down market or even a buyers market. Honestly, our market is getting back to normal but “normal” is being defined a bit differently now than it was before the downturn. Homes are still selling but buyers now have a bit more to choose from than they did just last year. (or last winter for that matter)

If a home is priced aggressively, it will stand out among the competition and sell in under 7 days in most cases. If not priced aggressively, it could be upwards of 60 days to sell AND the seller is likely to sell below where they should have due to increased market time and the perception that there is something wrong with the home.

For more information about the Rocklin real estate market, click here.

Buying or selling a home in Rocklin or Roseville? If so, I’d like to help you. Please call or text me directly at 916-532-7653 or click here, for my contact page.

Saxe Realty Services is the most comprehensive online source for Rocklin and Roseville real estate information. Whether you are looking for the latest sales, trends or homes for sale in Rocklin or Roseville, Saxe Realty Services has it all at your fingertips.