Placer County Real Estate Market Update
Unless you’ve been living on Mars, you’re probably aware that the real estate market these days is a study in fear and loss, as some homeowners lose jobs and others lose the will to continue paying on debts that are larger than the value of the home. So there’s bad news all around, and it’s a matter of degree when we say that the good news for Placer County is that the news there is “not as bad” as it is for neighboring Sacramento County. For example, though just over a third (34.3%) of home sales in May in Sacramento County were non-distressed sales (that is, sales that were neither short sales nor foreclosures). In El Dorado County the numbers were slightly higher at 37.3%, and in Placer County, fully 45.6% of the homes that sold in May in Placer County were non-distressed homes. That’s still less than half of what sold, but again, Placer County gets the dubious comfort of bragging rights that it has the lowest foreclosure rate in the area.
Placer County real estate prices fell 9.4% from May to May on a sold price per square foot basis, from $147.47 per square foot in May of 2010 to $133.61 per square foot in May of 2011. The average sale price fell 10.5% during this time, from $323,787 in 2010 to $288,496 in 2011. In May the median selling price stood at $246,000, down 7.2% from last May’s $264,975. In addition to having more non-distressed homes for sale than neighboring counties, Placerville’s unit volume is an exception to the rule as well. While Sacramento County’s year-on-year unit volume is flat (down .2% from last year), and El Dorado County’s sales volume has decreased 5.4%, sales in Placer County are going strong. At 491 homes sold through the Metrolist MLS this May as against 448 in May of 2010, unit volume has risen 9.6%.
In terms of inventory, Placer County has 5.1 months of homes in inventory overall, with 1.4 months of inventory for foreclosures, 4.8 months for non-distressed sales, and 9.5 months for short sales.
The raw numbers are below:
| Units Sold | May, 2010 | May, 2011 | Change | |
| Foreclosures Sold | 127 | 124 | -2.4% | |
| (% of total units) | 28.3% | 25.3% | ||
| Short Sales Sold | 129 | 143 | 10.9% | |
| (% of total units) | 28.8% | 29.1% | ||
| Non-distressed Sold | 192 | 224 | 16.7% | |
| (% of total units) | 42.9% | 45.6% | ||
| Total | 448 | 491 | 9.6% | |
Price Data
| Prices | May, 2010 | May, 2011 | Change | |
| Sold Price / Square Foot | $147.47 | $133.61 | -9.4% | |
| Square Feet | 2140 | 2113 | -1.3% | |
| Average List Price | $323,787 | $288,496 | -10.9% | |
| Average Sale Price | $315,607 | $282,366 | -10.5% | |
| Median Sale Price | $264975 | $246000 | -7.2% | |
Inventory (Based on 12 months of prior sales)
| Sale Type | Average Sales Per Month | Active | Months of Inventory |
| All Sales | 428 | 2189 | 5.1 |
| Foreclosures | 124 | 195 | 1.6 |
| Short Sales | 119 | 1140 | 9.6 |
| Nondistressed | 186 | 854 | 4.6 |
Inventory (Based on 6 months of prior sales)
| Sale Type | Average Sales Per Month | Active | Months of Inventory |
| All Sales | 433 | 2189 | 5.1 |
| Foreclosures | 137 | 195 | 1.4 |
| Short Sales | 119 | 1140 | 9.5 |
| Nondistressed | 178 | 854 | 4.8 |
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