Sacramento Appraisal Blog

Market trends and real estate appraisals for divorce, estate settlement, loans, property tax appeal, pre-listing and more. We cover Sacramento, Placer and Yolo County. We're professional, courteous and timely.

REO vs Short Sales

The shifting real estate market in Sacramento

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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?

Foreclosure and Short Sale Trends in Sacramento County from 2009 to 2012 - by Sacramento Appraisal Blog

Foreclosure & Short Sale Trends in Sacramento County - by Sacramento Appraisal Blog

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?

If you have any questions or Sacramento home appraisal or property tax appeal needs, let’s connect by phone 916-595-3735, email, Twitter, subscribe to posts by email (or RSS) or “like” my page on Facebook

Unpacking the Elk Grove real estate market

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What’s been happening in the Elk Grove real estate market? Let’s take a look at all sales over the past few years and unpack some data too.

Analysis of 36 months of sales in Elk Grove:

  • Prices have clearly declined over the past three years.
  • Short sales have increased through the years (see my post yesterday for specific percentages for short sales and foreclosures). 
  • Foreclosures have decreased in percentage over the past three years.
  • Typical non-distressed sales tend to sell at higher levels than bank-owned (REO) and short sale properties. The blue dots above represent all typical sales, and the top end of the market is dominated by blue. That says something, don’t you think?

Current real estate data in Elk Grove:

  • 41% of all sales in Elk Grove last year were bank-owned.
  • 32% of all sales in Elk Grove last year were short sales
  • 693 sales in Elk Grove over past 90 days.
  • 340 current active listings
  • 272 current active short sale listings
  • 392 current active short sale contingents (in contract already)
  • 409 pending listings
  • $68,250 was the lowest sale (only 14 sales under $100K)
  • $1,330,700 was the high sale.
  • There were two sales above $1,000,000 over the past year. One house was nearly 5,500 square feet on 17 acres and the other was nearly 7,000 square feet on 5 acres.
  • 10.3% unemployment rate in Elk Grove (March 2011)
  • 12.6% unemployement rate in Sacramento County (March 2011)
  • Median price levels for both the 95624 and 95758 zip codes are currently hovering around 2001 levels. The median price for 95624 in March 2011 was $224,900 and the median price for 95758 in March 2011 was $182,600.

The market in Elk Grove is competitive right now since there are many properties in contract (contingent status) or already pending. Prices are lower than they’ve been in years, so buyers are absorbing properties. However, with an unemployment rate at 10.3% and the market still being considered distressed due to a high level of foreclosures and short sales, property values have been struggling still in many pockets of Elk Grove. 

Let me know if you have any questions or insight.

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook.

Positive real estate news in Elk Grove

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How about some positive real estate news? Let’s unpack all sales in Elk Grove to see the trend with bank-owned vs. short sale properties over the past 36 months. 

The overall percentage of bank-owned sales has decreased in Elk Grove during the last few years. At the same time, short sales have more than doubled in 36 months. Additionally, the total percentage of distressed sales (REO + SS) has decreased from 86% three years ago to 73% over the past two consecutive years. I’ll unpack more of the market in coming days too to share some of the trends I see in the appraisal trenches of Elk Grove. The data above is based on all detached SFR sales in Sacramento MLS

What do you make of the numbers above?

If you have any real estate appraisal, consulting, or property tax appeal needs in the Greater Sacramento Region, contact me at 916.595.3735, by email, on our appraiser website or via Facebook.

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