Sacramento Housing Trends for September 2018: Twice the Homes

The biggest news to hit our Sacramento housing trends for September 2018 is increased inventory. Our inventory doubled this year. This is welcome news for home buyers, including sellers who plan to move up. For all practical purposes, our market inventory is still low enough to qualify for a seller’s market, even if the market is no longer fully cooperating with that notion. That’s because there are too many opposing forces to make our real estate market in Sacramento a true seller’s market.

Generally, in a true seller’s market, we have the following character attributes:

• Single-digit days on market
• Over list price offers
• Multiple offers
• No seller repairs or credits
• Few price reductions
• Rising prices

Except for highly desirable properties or under-market pricing, those characteristics are not really inherent in our present day Sacramento housing trends for September 2018. Our market is fairly stable and moving toward a buyer’s market.

Surprisingly, here are the characteristics inherent in our present Sacramento real estate market:

• Longer days on market
• Under list price offers
• Single purchase offers
• Seller credits and repairs
• Many price reductions
• Stable prices

However, it doesn’t mean the sky is falling or that the market is collapsing. Just means fewer closed sales, fewer pendings. For example, when I looked at my listing inventory, I have only one pending sale for this month. That is low for me. So I checked out the pending sales for a few other top producers, and we’re all pretty much the same. Some top producers show zero pending sales.  It’s unusual for me to enjoy any breathing room.

In our present Sacramento housing trends for September 2018, we’ve got sellers clamoring for information. Everybody wants to know what they can do differently to quickly move a property and few, really, want to lower their prices where they may need to be. Our median sales price in Sacramento County is $360,000, identical to last June. In contrast, our inventory has doubled from January of this year.

What does this mean? It means it’s an excellent time to buy a home in Sacramento. High inventory means more choices. More choices means better chances to negotiate benefits such as repairs or closing cost credits. Not to mention, buying this year means lower interest rates. Next year, buyers will pay more for financing. Call your Sacramento Realtor Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759 and put 40 years of experience to work for you.