The large number of foreclosures and the falling prices that result caused an upsurge in demand in the Roseville real estate market in April.  April’s average home sold in Roseville for $362,468, down 17.4% from last April’s average sale price of $439,080.  Sold price per square foot fell 25.9% during this time, from an average of $225.40 in April of 2007 to an average of $166.96 in April of 2008.  At the same time, the median home selling price fell 13.2%, from $401,950 in April of 2007 to $348,950 in April of 2008.

Taking advantage of falling prices, buyers bought 40.2% more homes than last April, as unit volume rose from 102 units in April of 2007 to 143 units this April.  Sixty-six of the 143 units that sold this April were bank owned (46.2%).  Only 11.2% (sixteen homes) were short sales. 42.7% of sales were non-distressed, so non-distressed homes continued to outperform short sales even though short sales are much more inexpensive, on average.

Overall, inventory numbers are at the border between a buyer’s market and a seller’s market — though to be sure this is something of a paper victory, since what’s driving demand are the distressed sales.  There are 6.2 months of inventory overall.  For non distressed sales there are 6 months, while for short sales there is a huge 16 month supply.  For REOs — the real seller’s market — the inventory available is only 1.6 months.  The expired to sold ratio was an encouraging 21.7% this April, down from 52.9% last April.