The word “shift” is on my mind today. It’s incredible to see just how much the real estate market has changed over the past four years. The Sacramento area used to be absolutely dominated by foreclosures, but that’s not the case any more. While REOs previously represented 72.9% of all sales in Sacramento County (ouch), they’re now only about 1 in 10 of all sales (11.0% over the past quarter). At the same time, short sales have increased from only 11.3% four years ago to 37.3% of all sales nowadays.

How do these stats strike you or move you to action?

Quick Market Takeaways:

1. The 20% reduction of foreclosures in the market has played a huge role this year in “appreciating” values.
2. It sure is nice to not have 84% of all sales be distressed (Q1 2009).
3. There is much good news in real estate these days, but let’s not forget that 48% of all sales are still distressed.
4. It’s much easier to get short sales approved in today’s market compared to 2009. This is good news for home owners as well as Realtors aiming to close short sales. On the other hand, it’s not a great market to try to be a “mega REO agent” to list foreclosures. The truth is whenever the market shifts, it’s an opportunity to diversify business and hone our focus.
5. There were essentially 681 less bank-owned sales this past quarter compared to the beginning of the year since the percentage of REOs decreased from 31.6% to 11.0%. Sure, some of these would-be foreclosures were absorbed as short sales, but keep in mind short sales only increased 6% over the course of the year while REOs decreased by 20%. This effectively illustrates how less foreclosures on the market is one of the big culprits behind inventory drying up.
6. Other: What do you see?

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