Are you keeping tabs on the pulse of the Placer County real estate market? If you're a buyer, seller, or simply an enthusiast of housing trends, buckle up for a concise yet comprehensive update on what's been happening in our local market.

January brought forth some intriguing shifts in the landscape. Let's dive into the numbers:

  1. New Listings: We witnessed a modest increase of 2.2% in new listings compared to the previous year. While this might seem like a positive sign, it's essential to note that we're still contending with a significant 23% shortage compared to last year's inventory levels.

  2. Sales Activity: On the brighter side, both pending and closed sales showed promising growth. Pending sales surged by 4.4%, indicating a healthy…

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Picture this: Nestled in the heart of Placer County, where rolling hills meet pristine fairways and luxury living becomes a daily reality. If you're considering a move from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco or the tech-centric streets of San Jose to a tranquil haven, Placer County might just be your slice of paradise. As you embark on this exciting journey, let us guide you through five exceptional golf course communities, each with its own unique charm and benefits.

  1. Whitney Oaks Golf Club - Rocklin, CA: Stats: 18-hole championship course, 6,800 yards, designed by Johnny Miller and Fred Bliss.

    Nestled in the thriving city of Rocklin, Whitney Oaks Golf Club offers more than just a challenging course – it's a lifestyle. With a welcoming…

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What a year!

We saw rates climb consistently throughout the year to as high as 8%, only to fall back to the 6% range by the end of the year. Thank goodness.

We also saw the supply of homes remain very tight in the 1 to 2-month range, even as the rates climbed. As of this afternoon, we have 546 homes for sale in Placer County and 337 in contract. That is only 1.6 months of inventory!

Many homeowners were simply uninterested in leaving their existing low rates throughout the year. The good news is that with rates falling recently, we may see more homeowners willing to make a move after holding off the past year.

The biggest surprise of all for many of the experts was the increase in home prices, due to the lack of supply. The median home price…

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Over the past two years rising interest rates have had a massive impact on the real estate market.

 For numerous years we saw record-low interest rates spur demand, which led to record sales volumes and impressive yearly gains in home values.

 Since rates began to rise, we have seen a sharp decline in demand, but somewhat unpredictably, we have also seen a decrease in the supply of homes that has been greater than the decline in demand.

 The combination of these factors has led to a market where we simultaneously have a low supply of homes, leading to stable and even rising home values, while at the same time, the cost to finance those homes has increased at a record pace, due to the 20- year high-interest rates.

 The questions we are now…

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I tend to report the medians and averages for the market as a whole because they give us the best indicator of what is happening in general.

With that in mind, it is important to realize that there are cases that occur on the extremes and all along a spectrum.

While our average home price in Placer County in June 2023 was $786,000 and the median was $680,000, there are examples on the extreme that are far above and below that.

On the top end of the market, a home in Loomis sold this June for $4,000,000,

At the bottom end of the market, a condo in Auburn sold for $205,000.

On average, homes sold for their asking price during June, but there are extremes on either side of that too.

A home in Roseville received 35 offers and was bid up 39%…

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Home prices in Placer County reached their most recent peak in April/May of 2022.

Prices then fell between 17% and 19% from that point until January of 2023.

Prices have changed direction again and have risen between January and May by 10% and 13%.

Why have prices risen, while interest rates have remained higher?

The primary reason is that many prospective home sellers have decided to sit on the sidelines and not list their homes.

Per a recent Inman article, 62% of homeowners have interest rates below 4%.

https://www.inman.com/2023/06/14/nearly-92-of-all-us-homeowners-now-have-a-mortgage-rate-below-6/

With rates hovering between 6 and 6.5% recently, many home sellers who will become home buyers themselves have decided it makes more…

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The new California Dream for All program offers a unique opportunity for California residents to partner with the state in an equity share down payment assistance program.

For qualified buyers, the state will contribute up to 20% of the downpayment needed towards the purchase of a home. Leaving the home buyer to finance the remaining 80%, oftentimes without private mortgage insurance because of the assistance.


The combination of only having to make a payment based on 80% of the home’s value, combined with the possible removal or lowering of the private mortgage insurance, will allow buyers to have payments considerably lower than traditional low or no downpayment loan programs.

When the home is sold in the future, the initial 20% of the downpayment…

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As interest rates have risen over the past year, it has become progressively more difficult for home buyers to qualify to purchase homes in the same price range that they could afford at lower interest rates.

Fortunately for veterans, VA loans offer a great way to help offset this rise in rates by allowing them to assume the loan of another veteran at that loan's existing rate.

What is Loan Assumption?

Loan assumption is a process where a new borrower takes over an existing loan, including all the terms and obligations associated with it. In the case of a VA loan, loan assumption can be a great option for individuals who want to buy a home but may not qualify for their own VA loan at current rates, or for someone who would just like the lower…

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The changes in the weather have been crazy this year, but so have the changes in the real estate market.

We went from a red-hot market a year ago, firmly in home sellers’ hands, to a market at the end of 2022 that had rising inventory and buyers capable of negotiating price reductions and credits from home sellers.

Those changes lasted for a few months, but now we face a new type of market.

Demand from home buyers is now lower than last year due to their purchasing power being diminished by higher rates, but we also have had an equal if not greater decline in supply due to fewer listings being added to the market compared to last year, possibly due to the same increase in interest rates.

There were 42% fewer new listings added to the market…

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We have seen some large changes in the real estate market here in Placer County since the beginning of the year.

As of today, we have 597 homes for sale and 447 homes pending sale.

Those two numbers combined, leave us with 1. 3 months of inventory, which is down considerably from the 3 months of inventory that we averaged during the 4th quarter of 2022.

This is due to multiple factors, including, but not limited to:

1) Interest rates peaked in October and trending lower since then.

2) Sellers of the existing listing inventory were willing to price at or reduce their price to the market rate and then were willing to negotiate for discounts and closing cost credits.

3) Buyer demand building up during the second half of the year before…

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