Placer county has always been different from Sacramento county and this month’s market report underlines that fact. While in Sacramento county, foreclosures have fueled falling prices and higher sales all around, Placer county has seen a decline in sales. There has been in fact a drop of 18.4% in overall sales from last October to this October. Foreclosures however saw an almost 100% increase – from 58 last October to 114 this last month. Last year, the majority of sales were non-distressed (74.7%); this October they are evenly divided between foreclosures on one side and non-distressed and short sales on the other. See? I told you Placer county was its own story.

That said, Placer county has not been immune to the price declines we are seeing everywhere. Sold price per square foot was down 21.4% over last October to rest at $161.99. Average sales price is down 19.5% from last October’s high of $458,127 to $368,980. Median price is down 22.4% from $399,680 (October 2007) to $310,000 this October.

Based on the last 12 months of sales, inventory in Placer county sits at 7.3 months and based on the last 6 months of sales inventory sits at 6.2 months.