Good News For Homeowners in Sacramento's Urban Core

Ready for some good news about the real estate market? I should think so. Especially after continually being barraged by bad news in the press about the market and the overall economy. Well, economy or no economy, bad news or good news in the press, the real estate market in and around the Sacramento core continues to trend upward (often defying greater Sacramento statistics).

Prices Are UP! And not just a little. Prices in the 95811, 95814, 95816, 95818, 95819 zip codes have increased a full 5% when compared to October sales, according to the local MLS, from an average price of just over $392,000 to just under $415,000. This is still down, obviously, from November of 2007 by roughly 8%. But compared to being 16% down when comparing October of 2008 to October of 2007, this is an outrageous turnaround. So outrageous that I would expect a bit of a correction next month. That being said, there is still a lot of reasons to be hopeful about the future of the real estate market in the core.

Inventory continues to decrease. The number of active listings an the market have decreased from 251 to 224. The number of homes sold in November did decrease to only 30, but there are currently 54 pending transactions in the area.

Interest Rates Are Low! Actions by the Fed have dramatically reduced interest rates causing people to jump at locking in rates now.

From SacBee.com:

Sacramento's troubled housing market, which has been gaining momentum for several months, got a new jolt this week. An $800 billion stimulus plan for the credit markets, unveiled Tuesday by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department, sent fixed-rate mortgages tumbling as much as 1 percentage point.

Almost immediately, homebuyers with deals pending raced to lock in rates. Potential homebuyers called their agents and said they were ready to look in earnest. Homeowners took a fresh look at the refinance market.

Is the News Too Good? Maybe. This may be a spike rather than a turnaround, but I think that there is enough evidence in the past couple of weeks that the urban core may indeed be back on the upswing. And that's good news for homeowners.