Placer County Real Estate, by John Brophy.

Placer County Real Estate

By John Brophy

If anything could describe Placer County’s real estate activity the last year – a crazy frenzy! And those are not my words but Cheryl Keller’s, the president of Placer County Association of Realtors (PCAR).

Normally, Placer County records the slowest activity in August but picks up around September and October. November is one of the strong months and then the market slows to pave way for the holiday season.

But, just like many other markets, placer county’s real estate market at the close of 2021 set the premise for the real estate activity in the first quarter of 2022 where a lack of inventory coupled with low-interest rates were the primary drivers of buoyed demand.

According to Cheryl, “It has risen slightly in the latter half of the year,” she said. “In June, it was .7 (of a month) and then went up to one month. It has been pretty consistent, really.”

In a normal market, we need at least 3 months of inventory but the high demand has disrupted the market where a lot of properties are receiving multiple offers simply because the inventory is low.

What are some of the statistics about this market you can use to make an informed decision? Total listings (new, for sale, pending, and sold) in December 2021

1. The number of new listings added to the market in Placer County this January was down 10% compared to January of last year.

The total number of homes for sale at the end of the month was up 7%. 2. The number of homes pending sale was down 3.8% compared to last year. 3. The number of homes that closed in January was down 7% compared to last year. 4. The drop in pending sales and closed sales is directly related to the decline in homes listed for sale. If more homes were listed the sales would increase.

THE AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET

The Average days for properties listed on the market rose to 26 days as many homes that previously hadn’t been sold found buyers due to lack of new listings.

However, data shows that as much as 57% of the homes were sold within 14 days of being listed and these homes sold for an average of 3% over the asking price. In addition, about 14% sold within 15 to 30 days and these are the ones that sold at their asking price on average with as much as 6% over the asking price and lastly, 29% sold after being listed 30 days or longer and of these, 30% sold for 2% less than their asking price on average. However, in one case sold for as much as 5% over. offer or an undisclosed number of offers. Majorly, homes with 1 or an undisclosed number of offers sold for an average of 99% of their asking price in an average of 35 days. In addition, 54% of the homes sold with multiple offers whereas 17% had 2 offers. The homes that sold for their asking price on average with as much as 9% over in an average of 25 days. Moreover, 24% of the homes had 3 to 5 offers where they sold for an average of 2% over the asking price with as much as 8% over in an average of 16 days.

The outlook for this year is projected to be an upward trajectory “but once interest rates go up a little, that will slow down multiple offers and, with that, the price increases. … I think they will increase but not as much as this year.”

As such, buyers and investors looking to get into this lucrative market should do it now!

MULTIPLE OFFERS

About 46% of the homes were sold with one