REAL ESTATE Fall Showcase
INSIDE
Real estate: prices up, inventory down
Budget before you buy: make sure you’re ready for home ownership
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Do you need mortgage insurance? Weekend home upgrades that increase your home’s value Declutter your home: a room-by-room guide
n Sonoma County’s desirable great northwest, real estate prices are still rising, even while middle income homes are more difficult to find. Rick Laws, Senior Vice President of Sonoma County for Pacific Union Real Estate, compiles extensive data on real estate sales and says the increase in prices and decrease in overall transactions are simply “the law of supply and demand.” Laws says that the small communities in northern and western
“There are a lot of opinions about housing affordability but there’s only one set of facts; supply and demand.” Rick Laws
Sonoma County tend to grow at a slower rate than the larger cities like Santa Rosa, and “the inventory is just not there.” North county Take Cloverdale, for example. Laws points out that due to its distance from the Bay Area and job centers, Cloverdale “has tended to be priced lower than other north county properties, but that inventory has been sucked up by demand for affordable housing.” According to Laws’ data, so far in 2017 (through August) there were 93 transactions in Cloverdale, down 17 percent from the same time period in 2016. Those homes and farms sold for more money, with a median price of $525,000 vs. $477,5000 a year ago, and they stayed on the market an aver-
age of 55 days, vs. 77 days in 2016. Elsewhere in the north county, the Healdsburg median price went up 2.6 percent, from $866,500 to $888,750. The number of transactions in Healdsburg was relatively flat, with 213 so far this year and 209 in the same time period in 2016. Healdsburg homes stayed on the market barely longer this year, an average of 142 days vs. 141 days last year. In Windsor, home sales were barely down, 195 so far this year vs. 198 for the same time period in 2016. The median sale price went up 2.6 percent, from $561,200 to $596,000 while days on the market showed a fast sales pace this year of 49, vs. 60 days on the market average last year. See Housing Page 5