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Weekly Real Estate Report For Aug 3: Huge Changes In Most Of Solano Since January

August 3rd, 2009 categories: Benicia, Buying, Contra Costa, Fairfield-Gr Valley, Market Update, Selling, Solano, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo

weekly-solano-home-reportIt’s hard to believe that we now have seven months under our belt for 2009. With the year more than half-over, it’s also hard to believe how much has changed since January, when I started compiling my Weekly Solano County Real Estate Report.

In early- to mid-January, buyers could still negotiate a fairly good price without much competition from other buyers. And, most sellers were more than happy to credit closing costs on top of it.

Well, sometime about mid-February, the landscape began to change and by March, we were seeing a huge increase in activity, particularly in the $300,000-and-below price range. 

Inventory was plummeting on a weekly basis, multiple offers became the order of the day, and closing cost credits were pretty much a thing of the past.

At the time, no one knew whether this was the beginning of the end of the housing meltdown or just a temporary blip on the housing radar.

Since President Obama had taken office six weeks earlier, a lot of attention had been focused on repairing the housing market. Interest rates had dropped to historic lows, big banks had agreed to extend their foreclosure moratoriums through late March, the new first-time buyer tax credit had been unveiled, and President Obama’s new Making Home Affordable program was introduced.

So nobody really knew whether all of these had simply combined to create a temporary boost for the housing market or if the market was poised to finally turn the corner.

Well, here we are four months later and the local market continues to hum along at a very brisk pace. Inventory continues to fall throughout most of the county while prices have stabilized and even started to inch upwards.

Most well-priced homes in Solano County and Contra Costa County are getting multiple offers. And with two or three dozen offers on some properties, the “winner” often ends up paying tens of thousands more than the home’s original list price.

If you’ve been following my Solano County Weekly Real Estate Report on a regular basis, you’ve had a ringside seat and have watched the current market unfold.

If you haven’t been along for the ride, I invite to do so. For nowhere else in Solano County will you find this kind of ongoing real estate news, information and analysis.

Each week, in this report, I track the inventory of homes and number of newly pending and closed sales in the five Solano County communities in our market area (Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun & Vacaville).

Some highlights from this week’s report:

  • Suisun City saw no change in its inventory from a week ago. But for the month, its inventory was down 21%.
  • For the first time this year, Vacaville’s inventory has fallen below 200. The city has 52% fewer homes than it did in early January.
  • Fairfield/Green Valley’s inventory has fallen 70% since the beginning of the year — including a 23% drop in July.
  • Vallejo’s supply is down 71% for the year — from a high of 899 to a current supply of 250 active listings.
  • Benicia’s supply is down a modest 17% for the year — at least modest when compared to its Solano County sister cities.

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Coming Later This Week: July’s Solano Housing Numbers

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 3rd, 2009 at 9:31 am and is filed under Benicia, Buying, Contra Costa, 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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