February Housing Market Data

The rain has finally stopped, spring is springing as we head to the busiest season of the year. On top of that JP Morgan also predicted that the Fed will keep interest rates the same through 2019.

So what does the February housing market data tell us? The overall picture for Sonoma County is as follows:

• There are 680 properties for sale across Sonoma County which is a 7 month low
• Although inventory has declined, the number of properties either sold or in pending in February was 560, a small uptick from last month
• The average days on market fell 10% to 77 days as buyers were competing for relatively low numbers of properties
• Price per square foot (always a difficult measure to make sense of in the average) held steady at $412 per sq. ft.
• The lower inventory levels combined with a sustained numbers of buyers resulted in the sale to list price ratio rising to 95%, the highest level in six months.

All of the latest housing data for Sonoma County is here

For Healdsburg specifically, the picture is very similar, although we should remember, before reading too much into this data, that deal volumes are relatively small.

• The number of properties for sale in Healdsburg during February increased by 7% up to 58 and this has continued into March with a number of properties coming on in early March
• The average days on market fell 10% to 116 days from the 129 day high of January
• The average sale price to list price ratio stayed static at 88%

So what should we take away from this:

• Inventory levels are still low although with the prime selling season approaching, we can see more listings coming on the market
• While the number of buyers has remained constant, the deal volumes are fairly flat, largely limited the choice available.
• Good properties that are priced well are still selling but we are seeing an increased level of price reductions
• If you are planning to sell a home this calendar year, now is the window to get maximum value from your property but its important to price it correctly to avoid it sitting on the market

The monthly housing market data for Healdsburg is available here.