Perhaps the banks are finally getting a grasp on the seriousness of the real estate downturn and are beginning to accept short sales now. That definitely seems to be the case in Lincoln anyway. We are seeing a 367% increase in short sales year over year along with a 58% increase in foreclosure sales. Non-distressed home sales suffered a decline of 22.2% year over year. Overall unit volume is up by 35%. 61.3% of all sales are now distress sales, while the rest are non-distressed. When we compare that with how evenly distressed and non-distressed sales were divided last year at the same time, we get a better idea of the current real estate market in Lincoln.

Sold price per square foot has fallen 17% year over year. It has dropped from a high of $165.72 to today’s low of $137.65. Average sales price has also fallen 17%. The average home in Lincoln is now worth only $313,464 as compared to its price last December at $376,901. Median sales price has dropped 13% from $337,500 to today’s low of $295,000.

Inventory in Rocklin is at 5.4 months based on the last year of sales  and 5.1 months based on the last six months of sales. There are currently 440 properties on the market for sale.

Whereas on the face of it, nothing really has changed with unit volume in Rocklin year over year, the underlying numbers are interesting to see. 51 homes sold last December and 51 homes sold this December as well. Aha! But which 51? Whereas last December only 10 of the 51 were distress sales, today 34 of the 51 are either foreclosures or short sales. Foreclosure sales in Rocklin are up 200% and short sales are up 600%. Non-distress sales then of course are down 58.5% year over year.

Sold price per square foot in Rocklin is down year over year by 10.6%. It has gone from $169.53 last December to $151.48 this December. This is going to be our most accurate measure of prices, since the average home sold this December in Rocklin was also 15% smaller than last year. Average sales price has fallen 24% year over year from a high of $461,995 to $350,696. Median sales price sees a decline of 32% from $455,000 to 309,000 for the same period.

Current inventory in Rocklin is at 4.2 months based on the last 12 months of sales and 4 months based on the last 6 months of sales. Foreclosure inventory interestingly is at 0.9 and 0.8 months!

The Roseville real estate market landscape is mostly unchanged from last month. Distress sales still make up the majority of all sales here. 59% of all sales are now distress sales. In the month of December especially 54 foreclosures and 23 short sales sold, as compared with only 52 non-distressed home sales. The major difference is the year over year number for short sales: an increase of over 283%! Foreclosure sales were up by 64% and non-distressed sales declined by 7%. Overall unit volume sales increased by 36% year over year.

Average sold price per square foot in Roseville has now dropped 19.2% from its high of $182.60 to $147.46 year over year. Average sale price has dropped 15% from $364,187 to $308,579. Obviously, nothing to cheer about, unless you are looking to buy a home in or around Roseville. This is evidenced by the average home sold in Roseville, which is now 5% bigger than it was last year at the same time. Median price has also dropped – a 10% decline year over year – from $335,000 to rest at $300,600.

Inventory is at 3.9 months based on the average homes sold over the last year and 3.6 months based on the number of homes sold in Roseville in the last six months.

The biggest winner for the most change in Placer county this month is clearly the short sales chunk of real estate sales. While most of us in the real estate business (me included) like to warn our home buyers that short sales rarely sell – thanks to the bank approval process which can take longer than a month and sometimes never – we might have to change our tune. Closed short sales have undergone a 257% increase since year over year in Placer county and now make up 16% of all sales! Foreclosures, of course, continue to dominate the market at 47.6% of sales and non-distressed homes are at 36.2% – roughly a third, which is where they were last month as well.

Unit volume is up 19.8% year over year. However, non-distressed sales have fallen by 34% over last December.

The market seems largely unchanged over last month, but markedly different over last year in terms of prices as well. Sold price per square foot has fallen 22.3% year over year – from a high of $192.64 to $149.72. Last month, it was $155.52. The average sales price last month was $333,473. It is currently $322,245, not a huge change from last month, but a drop of 27% year over year, down from a high of $440,433. Median sales price is also down 18% year over year from $365,000 to $300,000 in December 2008.

Inventory in Placer county is currently at 5.8 months based on the last year of sales and 5.3 months based on the last six months of sales. This is better than last month’s numbers of 6.3 months and 5.5 months for the same period. Incidentally, this is the second month in a row of better inventory numbers.