As in many communities, November was a slow real estate month this year for Auburn, California.  Unit volume was down 54% from last year, with thirty-five units selling in November of 2006 and only sixteen units selling this November. 

The small number of sales this November — and the small size of the Auburn market overall with only twenty-seven homes selling each month — led to an interesting statistical fluke this November.   It’s axiomatic that there are three kinds of lies:  lies, damned lies, and statistics.  (Or put another way:  “Figures don’t like, but liars figure.”)  So in November you can have your choice of the following statements, either one of which is true:

• Prices are down a whopping 20.8% from last year!!!
• Prices have not changed from last year.

You see, the average sale price fell 20.8% from November to November, from $492,271 in November of 2006 to $389,900 in November of 2007.  But in an interesting twist of fate, sold homes last November averaged 2072 square feet, versus 1641 square feet this year, and that is — wait for it — also a 20.8% decrease!  So the net result on a sold price per square foot basis is that prices haven’t changed.  (Actually, due to a bit of rounding error, sold price per square foot actually rose 2 cents over the course of the year.)

The number of foreclosures and short sales in Auburn are very low compared to Placer County as a whole, making up 6.3% and 6.7% of active inventory, respectively.