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February Homes Sales Up Dramatically Everywhere In Solano County Except Benicia

March 6th, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

If you were looking for a home under $200,000 last month, chances are you had plenty of competition, as buyers have descended on homes in that price range in droves.  And February’s home sale numbers confirm that.

solano-monthly-home-sales-report-click-hereAside from Benicia, where home sales were actually down marginally over a year ago, the rest of Solano County saw sales that, on average, were two and a half times what they were a year ago.

Of course prices throughout the county are substantially lower than they were last February, which explains why so many opportunistic investors (many paying cash) and first-time buyers have flocked to places like Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun City and Vacaville.

The leader in all of this was Vallejo, which not coincidentally also has the greatest number and percentage of distress sale listings in Solano County. With a median sales price for February of $135,000, Vallejo saw almost five times as many home sales this February as it saw a year ago.

Countywide, sales were up 251% over last February, with Fairfield, Suisun City and Vacaville selling between 180%-225% more homes this year than over the same period in ‘08 (and don’t forget that Feb. 2008 was a leap year).

Some of the highlights from February’s reports:

  • The lowest sales price in the county was $26,000 in Vallejo. The highest was $950,000 in Vacaville.
  • Out of 460 sales in the county, only 46 were fair-market sales. The rest were distress sales (either bank-owned “REOs” or short sales).
  • Two-thirds of the sales in the county occurred in the two cities with the lowest median prices in the county (Vallejo and Fairfield) .
  • Benicia only contributed 13 sales to the county’s 460 total. A year ago, Benicia had 14 sales.
  • Even though January had three more days than February, sales activity was up 7% countywide over January’s equally strong numbers. Vallejo again led the way, with 31% more sales in February than in January.
  • Compared to Feb. 2008, Vallejo led the way again. It had 200 sales this February, compared to 42 a year ago. That’s a staggering 476% increase.
  • The two highest median priced communities in Solano County were Benicia ($300,000) and Vacaville ($258,000).

The impressive closed sales numbers notwithstanding, there were more new pending sales (500) in the county last month than closed sales, which means that  if most of those homes eventually close escrow, March’s numbers should also be high.

Click below to view each report individually or in a combined 3-page format.

The first week of each month, I download the statistics and prepare these custom Solano County Home Sales reports. So be sure to check back next month to see whether the strong sales streak continues in March.

Throughout the month, I regularly post a number of articles and reports that are designed to keep you updated on the local market. If you’d like to receive these updates automatically, either via email or your Feed Reader, click here.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Benicia, Buying, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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