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The fidget spinner “bubble” and softening real estate values

June 15, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 16 Comments

I see fidget spinners everywhere. It’s incredible how popular they’ve become over the past few months, right? Though like any fad, the market is about to change. Well, that’s what my 11-year old son thinks anyway. He sensed a “bubble” brewing, so he unloaded some of his spinner inventory on the last day of school and ended up raking in $37 (little stud).

Slower “spin” in real estate: About this time of year the real estate market begins to cool or “spin” more slowly so to speak. Though at times it feels controversial or blasphemous to say that because it goes against the grain of an ultra-positive real estate shtick. Yet no matter what, it’s normal for values to soften every year, and right now we seem to be in the beginning stages of that. This doesn’t mean the market is not incredibly competitive still or values have stopped increasing. It just means high altitude values in spring tend to subtly begin a downward descent right about now.

Pregnancy analogy: The problem is when the market slows we don’t see it in the stats yet for a couple months. It’s like taking a pregnancy test. You can be pregnant, but an over-the-counter test won’t tell you that for two weeks even though your body has 100% changed. Similarly, the real estate market may have begun to shift, but we might not see any difference in the stats yet. For example, almost every year July sales take longer to sell than June sales. It’s easy to then say, “The market changed in July.” But the truth is things actually began to change in May and June. After all, let’s remember the sales that closed in July got into contract in May and June. Thus when July sales stats show a slowing, it really tells us the market began to slow a couple months prior.

The Point: Whether spinners or real estate, let’s watch for signs of change so we can speak definitively about trends and give solid advice. Let’s be cautious to not talk about markets like they always stay the same either.

I hope that was helpful or interesting. Any thoughts?

–——-——- Big monthly market update (it’s long on purpose) ———–——-

If you didn’t know, sales volume last month was the strongest May we’ve seen over the past 4 years. But don’t get too excited because sales volume for the entire year is about the same as last year. No matter how we look at it, price metrics are up 7-9% from 2016 and they increased by 2-4% last month. One of the themes that won’t go away is we have a shortage of housing. In fact, housing supply is 22% lower right now compared to last year, and it’s been putting pressure on values to increase – particularly at entry-level price ranges. The tricky part lately is many contracts are getting bid up due to multiple offers (even beyond a reasonable appraised value). This can favor sellers accepting offers from buyers who have more cash to make up the difference between the appraised value and the contract price, though FHA sales stats show first-time buyers are still finding ways to close deals. In higher price ranges the market feels much softer, though we are still seeing multiple offers when properties are priced correctly. This is a good reminder that it’s possible for the market to feel more aggressive than actual value increases. In other words, having multiple offers doesn’t mean values are increasing rapidly or at all. Lastly, we are starting to hear more about lenders rolling out 100% financing to help buyers artificially afford higher prices (sounds healthy, right?). I could go on and on with words, but let me share some graphs to show the market visually.

DOWNLOAD 55 graphs (and a stat sheet) HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

Sacramento County graphs this month (more here):

Sacramento regional graphs (more here):

DOWNLOAD 55 graphs (and a stat sheet) HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

Questions: Do you think we’re in a fidget spinner “bubble”? What else are you seeing in the real estate market? Did I miss anything? I’d love to hear your take.

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5 things to remember about lofty list prices

May 17, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 14 Comments

There’s huge buzz this week about a $4.1 million dollar condo that just hit the market. I know that’s chump change in other places, but it’s a conversation piece in Sacramento since we don’t see listings anywhere near that level in Downtown (or almost anywhere in the county). Anyway, there’s some good conversation to be had from this, so I hoped we could consider a few ideas and then unpack local market trends (for those interested). Any thoughts?

5 things to remember about lofty list prices:

1) Attention & buzz: A high list price for a luxury property is designed to get attention, create buzz, and help market a property. In this case the $4.1 million dollar condo listing is located in a development called The Residences at The Sawyer. This penthouse unit is 3323 sq ft and is located directly across from the new arena at 500 J St (killer location).

2) Records & price context: When hearing of high listings it’s tempting to treat the list price like a record has been broken. But if we’re honest this list price doesn’t matter unless the property actually sells at that level. Last year in Sacramento we had a $5M listing, the year before it was a $7M one, and a few years back there was a $10M listing. None of them sold = No records. There have actually only been three sales on MLS in the past that have sold at $4,000,000 or above in Sacramento County. They include: 1) The Governor’s Mansion built in Carmichael when Ronald Reagan was Governor (sold in 2004 at $4.1M); 2) A property in Sierra Oaks in 2013 that sold at $4.7M; and 3) An estate in Elk Grove that sold at $4.6M in 2005, and then re-sold for $1.3M in 2011 after a foreclosure.

3) Marketing to non-locals: Most locals aren’t anywhere close to affording a $4,100,000 listing – not to mention the whopping $4,021 monthly HOA fee (that’s not a typo). But the thing is this property is probably being marketed to someone from the Bay Area, maybe one of the owners of The Kings, or one of the Kings players. The Beverly Hills firm who is running the sales office is likely focused on non-locals more than anything because this is the type of property that would appeal to a wider group outside of the region. In that sense the property is an anomaly of sorts. Of course there is no guarantee they can fetch a price that high. For reference, the highest condo price I’m aware of in Midtown is the L-Street Lofts penthouse which former NBA player Kevin Martin bought for $1.34M in 2008 (and it re-sold in 2014 for $1.3M). The location on J St is bound to fetch higher prices, but how much higher? We’ll see.

Here’s a Twitter pricing poll I ran yesterday. 🙂

4) Reductions and good deals: It’s tempting for sellers to list something at an absurdly high price level, reduce the list price, and still feel tied to the original list price. So the seller says, “Hey, we came down 30% in price already. The buyer is getting a great deal.” But the problem is the listing was priced 30% too high to begin with. We see this with outrageously priced high listings, but we also see it in just about every neighborhood too. Thanks Jonathan Miller for influencing my thoughts on this.

5) Freaking out: When hearing about a “4 million dollar” property, it’s easy to freak out and start saying, “Holy Batman, prices in Sacramento are now at LA and SF levels,” or “I cannot believe how high values have risen.” Take a breath though because this is just a listing right now. If it makes you feel better, remember that $250,000,000 listing in Bel-Air that garnered world-wide attention in January? Well, that one’s still listed for sale at the same price… In short, let’s give this one some space and see if this price pans out or not.

I hope that was helpful or interesting. Any thoughts?

———–——-——- big monthly market update below ——-———–——-

A LOCAL MARKET SUMMARY:

Values have continued to increase in the spring, though at the same time the market isn’t aggressive in every price range. When looking at Sac county and the region as a whole, both the average sales price and average price per sq ft saw increases last month. On the other hand the median price softened slightly (don’t make too much of that since the median can go up and down depending on what has sold). Housing inventory feels like it is doing the Limbo as it keeps going down and down. Seriously, inventory was already low last year, but it’s 20% lower this year. This is definitely putting pressure of values to increase in some price ranges. My sense is lower prices in just about every neighborhood are experiencing upward pressure because that’s what represents affordability to buyers for those areas. So buyers in La Riviera are feeling the pressure under $300,000, buyers in Whitney Ranch are feeling it under $400,000, and buyers in East Sacramento are feeling similar pressure under $450,000. Yet buyers at middle-to-upper ranges are not experiencing this same dynamic because the market is flat or soft in many areas at upper price levels (yet we still might see multiple offers though). As expected, last month it took about 5 less days to sell than the previous month. I could go on and on with words, but let me share some graphs to show the market visually.

DOWNLOAD 53 graphs HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file (including a quick stat sheet). See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

Sacramento County graphs this month (more here):

Sacramento regional graphs (more here):

DOWNLOAD 53 graphs HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file (including a one-page quick stat sheet). See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

Questions: What do you think of the $4.1M condo listing? Did I miss anything? What are you seeing out there in the market? I’d love to hear your take.

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10 things to know about low housing inventory

April 20, 2017 By Ryan Lundquist 20 Comments

Inventory is low. Really low. That’s one of the big stories right now in real estate, so I wanted to spend some time kicking around some thoughts. Let’s take a look at ten things to know about housing supply in Sacramento. If you aren’t local, I hope you can still find some value. Do you see any parallels to your market? Any thoughts?

DOWNLOAD 50 graphs HERE: Please download new market graphs here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

10 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT LOW HOUSING INVENTORY

1) Housing inventory is clearly on a declining trend.

inventory in sacramento county Since 2013 - part 2 - by sacramento appraisal blog

Housing supply has been vanishing over the past few years in light of greater buyer demand, sellers sitting instead of selling, less new construction, increasing sales volume, and other reasons.

2) Housing supply is really sparse (except at the top).

inventory - March 2017 - by home appraiser blog

Housing supply was low last year, but this year it’s 15-20% lower. Having less listings means it’s really competitive for buyers – especially under $400,000. However, inventory is not low at every price range as there are far more listings at the top. Before freaking out though, this is actually a normal trend we see almost every single month. But the disparity between under $500,000 and above $1,000,000 is striking. As an FYI, it’s worth noting the top of the market does feel a bit soft.

3) Inventory is still not as low as the Blackstone days.

inventory in sacramento county Since 2011 - by sacramento appraisal blog

It’s true that inventory is anemic, but we have to remember during 2012 and 2013 it was at one month for nearly an entire year when Blackstone and other investors were gutting the market. I mention this because while the market has an aggressive feel, it’s still not what it was. If inventory persists in declining though it will be a bloodbath in terms of competition for buyers (good for sellers though as a developer mentioned to me on Twitter).

4) Inventory was 1400% higher ten years ago during the “bubble”.

inventory in sacramento county Since 2007 - by sacramento appraisal blog

Ten years ago during the worst of the real estate “bubble” popping we had a 14-month supply of homes for sale (as opposed to one month now).

5) Bank-owned inventory is not a driving factor today.

REOs and Short Sales Sacramento County - by Sac Appraisal Blog

Eight years ago over 70% of all sales in Sacramento County were REOs, but that number is now about 3%. Some folks promise a new “foreclosure wave”, but it’s definitely not here right now.

6) Low inventory is putting pressure on values to increase.

Median price since 2013 in sacramento county

Declining inventory over the past few years is a big factor in rising prices. Right now values are about where they were at the height of last summer (or slightly higher) after a lull in the fall in many neighborhoods in Sacramento County. But let’s not make the mistake to think the market is doing the same thing everywhere. The truth is in some areas increases have been modest at best over the past year while some price ranges feel flat, but the bottom of the market is hands-down experiencing the largest increases. Remember, in some price ranges the market feels more aggressive than actual value increases too, so it’s really important to sift through emotions, look at actual numbers, and not overprice because the market is “hot”. A good mantra for some areas is “Aggressive Demand, Modest Appreciation.”

7) Strong demand is a huge reason why inventory is declining:

price metrics since 2014 in sacramento county

Demand is strong right now for both buying and renting, and buyers and tenants are simply gobbling up almost anything out there (I say “almost” because buyers are still sensitive about adverse locations and overpriced homes). Thus it’s not surprising to see the median price is 7% higher than last year, the average sales price is 9% higher, and the average price per sq ft is about 9% higher. Prices increases from February to March were anywhere from 1-3% depending on the metric (this doesn’t mean values went up by 1-3% though).

8) Increasing sales volume is one reason for lower inventory.

Cash in Q1 - by Sacramento Regional Appraisal Blog

Housing inventory is the relationship between sales and listings, so if there are more sales and no real change in the number of listings it will naturally mean inventory as a metric will show a decline. Look at the graph above to see all sales since 2013 for the first quarter of the year. Can you see how sales volume is increasing? At the same time we see cash volume declining. This reminds us the market is trying to figure out what normal looks like. It’s healthy to see sales volume growing.

9) Low interest rates have helped take homes off the market.

Interest Rates Since 2008

Historically low interest rates have played a big role in shaping inventory in that some owners are sitting on a 3.5% interest rate from years ago and they are simply not going to move unless necessary. Why would they anyway if their replacement home would come with a much higher mortgage? This means there are fewer homes hitting the market that might otherwise sell.

10) Low inventory is causing homes to sell faster.

CDOM in Sacramento County - by Sacramento Regional Appraisal Blog

Last year it was taking 5 days longer to sell a home and two years ago in March 2015 it was taking 15 days longer to sell a home. Can you see how low inventory makes a difference in how long it takes to sell? By the way, here is CDOM by price range. As you can see, the higher the price the longer it takes to sell. Just because it is a “hot” market does not mean every property is selling in 3 days.

BIG MONTHLY POST NOTE: Once a month I do a big market update (and it’s long purpose). Normally I talk about Placer County and the Sac Region too, but I tore my MCL a few weeks back, so I only had time to focus on Sacramento County in today’s post. Next month I’ll likely be back to normal (but I may change it up too).

DOWNLOAD 50 graphs HERE: Please download new market graphs here as a zip file. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim).

Questions: Did I miss anything? Any other thoughts as to why inventory is low? How would you describe the market right now? I’d love to hear your take.

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Predictions, Trump’s impact on real estate, and a Sacramento market update

November 16, 2016 By Ryan Lundquist 13 Comments

I reached the point of political exhaustion last week in a big way. This doesn’t mean I’m tuned out, but right now I find myself glossing over Facebook rants or skimming certain conversations because they’re only going lead to arguments. Yet still I hoped we could chat briefly about politics and real estate – without unfriending each other. Then let’s take a deep look at the Sacramento market. Any thoughts?

18345737 - the white house, view from the south, home of the president of the united states of america in washington dc usa

Huge Data Fail & Predicting Real Estate: The media laid an egg when it came to predicting the presidency. In fact, it seemed like many political pundits were shell-shocked when election results were coming in contrary to their predictions that Hillary would win. I don’t mention this so we can argue, but only to remind us of the danger of predicting, being wrong, and then having pie on your face (losing credibility). If some of the best political minds in America couldn’t predict the outcome of the presidential race, can we really predict the future of the real estate market with certainty?

Trump Presidency and Newlyweds: I’ve been asked a couple of times this week how a Trump presidency has impacted real estate so far. My answer is simple. Imagine asking a newlywed couple after one week of marriage to tell us how their marriage is going. It’s only been a week though. We probably need more time to really know how married life is going to unfold. The same holds true with Trump’s impact on real estate. We haven’t had enough time to see waves in the market yet, and nobody really knows how his policies will affect housing. There are many predictions right now, especially about repealing Dodd-Frank, but those are only guesses (see paragraph above).

Any thoughts?

—-—–—– And here’s my big monthly market update ———–—–

Two ways to read the BIG POST:

Scan the talking points and graphs quickly.
Grab a cup of coffee and spend time digesting what is here.

DOWNLOAD 71 graphs HERE: Please download all graphs in this post (and more) here as a zip file. Use them for study, for your newsletter, or some on your blog. See my sharing policy for 5 ways to share (please don’t copy verbatim). Thanks.

NEW: I created a one-page market sheet to print and keep handy when talking about real estate. I figured it might be helpful to use while talking on the phone. I’m not sold on the look, but is this a step in the right direction? Download here.

Quick Market Summary: A brutal election season has ended (thank God), and many Americans feel worn out, but the market doesn’t feel that tired. The truth is when we look at the stats we are seeing about what we’d expect at this time of year. Ultimately prices are down 1-3% from the height of summer, it took two days longer to sell a house last month, and inventory is down 14% in the region from last year. It’s easy to see softer stats and assume the market is beginning to crash, but the market softens like this almost every single year (besides 2012 when Blackstone and friends gutted the market and we didn’t have a normal fall season). I’m not saying values are not inflated, affordability isn’t becoming more of a factor, or even the market won’t turn at some point, but only that things feel fairly normal right now for the season. Sales volume has been strong this year in Sacramento and is up slightly from last year despite cash and FHA volume both dropping by 7-8%. Inventory is anemic and there really isn’t a quick solution to deal with that problem, but buyers are still finicky about price despite very few homes being listed on the market. Sellers don’t get this, so they try to command whatever price they want, but that rarely works in this market. Keep in mind buyers are scouring Zillow and Redfin every single day, they are visiting properties with their agent, they are getting beat out on other homes, and they are often looking for MANY months before getting a contract accepted. Sellers frankly are not doing anywhere near this level of research, which is one reason sellers are less in tune with proper pricing. Check out specific stats and graphs below for Sacramento County, the Sacramento Region, & Placer County.

Sacramento County:

The median price is $320,000 and is down a few percent from the height of summer, but it’s 10% higher than last year.
The average price per sq ft was $202 last month (down 1% from a few months ago, but 8.5% higher than last year).
There were only 38 short sales and 31 REOs in the county last month.
Sales volume was 5% higher this October compared to October 2015.
It took 3 days longer to sell a house last month compared to the previous month (one year ago it was taking 5 days longer to sell).
Sales volume is up slightly this year compared to last year (1% or so).
FHA sales volume is down 7% this year compared to 2015 (25% of all sales were FHA last month).
Cash sales are down 8.5% this year (they were 12% of all sales last month).
Housing inventory is 12% lower than the same time last year.
The average sales price at $353,000 is down about 1% from the height of summer (but is 9% higher than last year).

Some of my Favorite Graphs this Month:

median-price-since-2013-in-sacramento-county

inventory-in-sacramento-county-since-2013-part-2-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

inventory-september-2016-by-home-appraiser-blog

cdom-in-sacramento-county-by-sacramento-regional-appraisal-blog

price-metrics-since-2015-in-sacramento-county-look-at-all

sales-volume-in-sacramento-county-since-2012

seasonal-market-in-sacramento-county-sales-volume-6

seasonal-market-in-sacramento-county-inventory-4

seasonal-market-in-sacramento-county-4

SACRAMENTO REGIONAL MARKET:

The median price was $357,000 in October. It went up slightly from September but is down 3% from the height of summer (up 9% from last year).
The average price per sq ft was $208 last month. That’s down about 1% from the height of summer and 7% higher than last year.
It took 2 days longer to sell compared to the previous month (but 5 less days compared to October 2015).
Sales volume was 4% higher this October compared to October 2015.
FHA sales volume is down 8% this year compared to last year.
Cash sales were 13.5% of all sales last month (FHA sales were 21%).
Cash sales are down 7% this year compared to last year.
Housing inventory is 14% lower than the same time last year.
REOs were 1.8% and short sales were 2% of all sales last month.
The average sales price was $393,000 in October. It’s down about 3% from the height of summer but 8% higher than last year.

Some of my Favorite Regional Graphs:

median-price-sacramento-placer-yolo-el-dorado-county

sacramento-region-volume-fha-and-conventional-by-appraiser-blog

inventory-in-sacramento-regional-market

regional-inventory-by-sacramento-regional-appraisal-blog

days-on-market-in-placer-sac-el-dorado-yolo-county-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

regional-market-median-price-by-home-appraiser-blog

PLACER COUNTY:

The median price was $438,000 last month (highest point of year, but take that with a grain of salt).
The average price per sq ft was $213 last month (down very slightly from the height of summer and up 6% higher than last year).
It took 41 days to sell last month (same as previous month but 6 days less than one year ago).
Sales volume was about 3% lower this October compared to October 2015.
FHA sales volume is down 16% this year compared to last year.
Cash sales were 17% of all sales last month (FHA sales were 13%).
Cash sales are down 3.6% this year compared to last year.
Housing inventory is 13% lower than the same time last year.
Both REOs and short sales were each 1% of sales last month.
The average sales price was $481,000 and is 8.5% higher than last year.

Some of my Favorite Placer County Graphs:

placer-county-sales-volume-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

inventory-in-sacramento-regional-market

days-on-market-in-placer-county-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

months-of-housing-inventory-in-placer-county-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

number-of-listings-in-placer-county-2016

interest-rates-inventory-median-price-in-placer-county-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

placer-county-price-and-inventory-by-sacramento-appraisal-blog

Questions: Did I miss anything? What impact do you think Trump will have for the real estate market (if any)? What are you seeing out there? I’d love to hear your take.

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