Happy April! Another busy month in real estate. The California Dream Program, which is (or was) a California state equity-share program designed to lend first time home buyers 20% of their down payment, came and went. The state allocated over $300 million (the original plan was $500 million) in funding and it only took 10 days before all the money was spoken for. If that's not a sign that the desire to own real estate is strong, I don't know what is! It also speaks to the fact that affordability is a challenge and once affordability becomes easier, buyers are ready to jump in quickly.

As you can see, we are still living in a fast paced real estate market. The buyers who had success obtaining a home with the California Dream Program were buyers who were pre-qualified with a lender before the program launched. Currently, the California Association of Realtors are urging the state to honor the full $500 million that was planned for the program. Does that mean the program will start up again soon? No one knows for sure, but if you are a potential first time buyer looking to purchase, it would be wise to get the pre-approval process under way so that you can be ready to go when an opportunity presents itself.

Need a lender? Let me know and I can share some of my favorites with you.

Number of Sales

Now that it is mid-April we can take a look back and see what homes closed in March. Fortunately, the seasonal pattern for number-of-homes-under-contract that our market followed before the pandemic is back. After a sleepy November and December, the number of homes sold in February and March shot way up. Unfortunately, the amount of listings is NOT following the seasonal pattern of increasing during Spring. We are pretty much stuck at a record low for number of homes listed. If you are on the fence about selling, we need more listings! Its always great to list when the competition is low.

Days on Market and Sale Price to List Price Ratio

The number of days on market actually went down last month. Another strong signal that buyers are out there and they are snatching up houses quickly. The sales-price-to-list-price ratio continues to hang out right under the 100% mark. If you take a peak back to 2018, this is pretty normal. We like normal.

Curious who is out there buying homes right now?

Younger Boomers lead the pack as the largest share selling homes right now and are about even with Gen Xer's as the largest share of buyers. This comes as no surprise since Boomers and Gen X are more insulated from the effects of higher interest rates due to having large amounts of equity in their homes

Housing Inventory

Remember when the media told us that higher interest rates would result in more supply? The reality here is quite the opposite. The lack of inventory is keeping our prices stable, despite the shock in interest rates. Currently our inventory is lower than it was in January which is typically our seasonal bottom. This means that if no homes were to come on the market, everything would be sold in 1.5 months.

Sonoma Compared other Bay Area Counties

The median sale price has come down just slightly when comparing it to a year ago in Sonoma County. However, most Bay Area Counties saw a slight boost in median price from January to February. This is probably because the sales that closed in February went into escrow in January when interest rates dipped and competition went up. San Mateo and Marin both saw 20% increases from January to February this year. As for number of sales, they are down in every county significantly...But remember, February of last year was super hot with buyers trying to get in right before rates went up to 5%. It was a crazy market that month!

If you would like a more detailed report on your specific neighborhood, please let me know. I'm happy to share more info!

Nicola Roualdes, Realtor | 707-480-2672 | nicola.roualdes@gmail.com | DRE#02023814 | Vanguard Properties