While the western Nevada County market was picking up pace in March, statewide home sales saw a slowdown.
According to the California Association of Realtors, single-family home sales totaled 267,470 in March on a seasonally adjusted annualized rate, down 7.8% from 290,020 in February and down 4.4% from 279,700 in March 2023.
Meanwhile, in western Nevada County, there was a 12.9% increase in sales over prior month though down 9.2% from the same month prior year.
March’s statewide median home price was $854,490, up 6.0 percent from February and up 7.7 percent from $793,260 in March 2023.
In western county, the median price of a home sold in March was $520,000, down 1.5% from February but the exact same median price recorded in March 2023.
According to the association, neighboring or nearby Northern California counties saw the following monthly median prices of homes sold: Placer County ($659,000), El Dorado County ($677,000), Yuba County ($452,570), Sutter County ($403,200) and Sacramento County ($550,000).
STATEWIDE SLOWDOWN
California’s housing market lost momentum in March as sales fell on a year-over-year basis for the first time in three months after registering back-to-back increases in January and February, the association reported.
March’s sales pace fell 7.8% from the revised 290,470 homes sold in February and declined 4.4% from a year ago, when a revised 279,700 homes were sold on an annualized basis, according to the association. The sales pace remained below the 300,000-threshold for the 18th consecutive month. On a year-to-date basis, home sales still exceeded the level experienced in first-quarter 2023 by 0.7%, but the gain continued to shrink in March.
“While home sales lost momentum in March, the housing market remains competitive as we’re seeing the statewide median home price reaching the highest level in seven months, and homes selling quicker than last year,” said association President Melanie Barker, a Yosemite REALTOR®. “On the supply side, the market continues to improve with an increasing number of properties being listed on the market as more sellers begin to accept the new normal.”
The statewide median price recorded a strong year-over-year gain in March, climbing 7.7 percent from $793,260 in March 2023 to $854,490 in March 2024. California’s median home price was 6.0 percent higher than February’s $806,490. The year-over-year gain was the ninth straight month of annual price increases for the Golden State. March marked the 11th time in the last 12 months that the median price for an existing single-family home was above $800,000.
Sales of homes priced at or above $1 million dollars in California have been holding up better than their more affordable counterparts in the state in the last few months. The $1 million-and-higher market segment continued to grow year-over-year in March by a decent clip (9.9 percent), while the sub-$500,000 segment declined again modestly (-2.4 percent). The change in the mix of sales continued to provide upward support to the statewide median price and was partly responsible for the solid increase in year-over-year growth rate at the end of the first quarter.
“With mortgage rates reaching the highest levels since mid-November 2023, the housing market struggled to build on the momentum exhibited in the first two months of this year,” said C.A.R. Senior Vice President and Chief Economist Jordan Levine. ”While sales could be hindered by higher rates in the coming weeks, the uptick in recent months suggests that we could see a bounce back in housing activity when the market digests the latest inflation report.”
Active listings at the state level increased on a year-over year basis for the second consecutive month, and the increase for the current month was the largest in 13 months – an encouraging sign that housing supply could be heading in the right direction as the market enters the spring homebuying season, the association reported. That said, mortgage rates could reach a four-month-high in coming weeks and they are expected to remain elevated longer than previously anticipated, which could delay some potential sellers in putting their house up on the market.
As we reported earlier this month, western Nevada County saw 26.4% monthly increase in the number of homes listed for sale in March — and a 46.4% increase over listed inventory in March 2023.
The median number of days it took to sell a California single-family home was 19 days in March and 24 days in March 2023.
In western Nevada County, it took a median of 37 days on market to sell a single-family home in March.
Click here to read the full story, and other key points from C.A.R.’s March 2024 resale housing report.
