Shasta County Housing Market-A Year In Review
INDUSTRY NEWS, SHASTA COUNTY, SHORT SALES, TIPS FOR BUYERS, TIPS FOR SELLERS
January 6th, 2010
Thankfully, 2009 is in the history books! It was a trying year for many in the housing industry. Real estate offices closed, escrow companies pared their staffs to the bones, lenders struggled with ever-tightening underwriting rules and appraisers are valuing properties conservatively after being blamed for overvaluing properties during the bubble. What follows are my tabulations of yearly totals for 2009:
Homes sold-2045 ….up slightly from 1942 units in 2008
Distress sales-926 or 45% of all home sales, up from 33% in 2008
Inventory level-Started with 1495 active listings Jan. 5, 2009 compared with 1301 on Jan. 4, 2010
Pending home sales -Started with 257 in escrow the beginning of January and compared with 382 in escrow 1/4/2010
I started tracking REO’s (bank repo’s) listings in June because I believe these are an indicator of our local market’s health. The number was amazingly stable most of the year with 100-120 available on any given day. However, that changed in November when the number of active REO listings on the Shasta MLS started inching upward to today’s level of 160.
Before anyone can say the local real estate market is on the path to recovery, the level of distressed properties available in our marketplace must recede to less than 100 in my opinion. David Benda reports a monthly tally of the homes entering foreclosure which foretells what the market can expect 3-6 months later. Peak foreclosure activity may be behind us but these properties must be listed and sold before our market will return to something resembling normalcy.
530-224-6767 or 530-941-7492
BRAD GARBUTT
REALTOR/BROKER ASSOCIATE
REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS REAL LIVING
CORNER OF COURT AND PLACER IN REDDING
MORE THAN QUARTER CENTURY LOCAL SALES EXPERIENCE
Inventories – is this the MLS listings only?