Every month I create a video giving a summary of the key statistics for the Sonoma County market including specific data for Healdsburg.
As we move into 2019 there has been a lot of talk of the housing market softening while at the same time, mortgage rates are at a 10 month low with a 30-year fix now at just over 4.4%. In addition, the underlying economic data such as the recent job numbers all point to a strong market.
The overall picture for Sonoma County is as follows:
- The number of properties for sale is down by 42% from the heady heights of June 2008
- Properties are taking longer to sell with the number of days on market up 16% to an average of 84 days
- While the inventory levels are down, the total number of deals (including sold and pending) remained steady Dec to January
- The average sale price is $724k in January which has remained flat for the last few months.
- We are now seeing the ratio of sale price to list price at 92% compared to 99% back in March of last year
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 is down 14% month on month. Given the size of the market this is significant because there are only 54 properties on the market through January
The big change in Healdsburg is the amount of time properties on the market. The average property is taking 129 days to sell. While this is a lot longer than the 67 days of last June, it is still faster than a ‘normal’ market.
The discount of sale price to list price is a little greater than the wider market at 88%
So what should we take away from this:
- Buyers are still very much out there looking to do deals as they feel they have more power in the market.
- However, with inventory levels low, buyers have less choice meaning the best properties still have healthy competition
- For sellers, it is a good time to list because of the current low inventory levels and also before the Spring rush of sellers. That being said, with the average days on market increasing, it is more important than ever to get the pricing strategy right.
The monthly housing market data for Healdsburg is available here.