Slowly, but steadily, the number of homes for sale in western Nevada County appears to be growing, but not nearly at the pace or volume of pre-pandemic norms.
February sales statistics show 195 homes were listed at month’s end, which is 29% higher than January and 22% higher than February 2021. But to put things into perspective, there were 389 homes for sale locally in February 2020 and 365 listed in February 2019.
According to the California Association of Realtors, the total number of homes for sale statewide has been rising in seven of the previous eight weeks, with slightly less inventory on the market than one year ago.
“But last week marked the largest weekly increase in active listings since early January,” CAR reported in a news release. “Most of the increase was in homes priced over $1,000,000, but declines in active homes priced under $1 million has lost momentum in recent weeks, so we may see an increase in entry level homes on the MLS (multiple listing service) as we enter the spring buying season.”
Locally, among the 192 homes listed for sale on Friday, the largest number of listings (33) was within the $500,000-$600,000 price range.
In fact, 92 of the homes on the market (47.9%) were priced between $400,000-$700,000. There were also 37 homes priced at $1 million or higher, and 11 homes were listed at $400,000 and below.
Growth among high-priced homes, particularly among those listed above $1 million, is occurring across the country. According to an analysis by real-estate company Redfin, since the start of the pandemic, the share of homes worth $1 million or more has doubled, with a record one in 12 properties now worth above that figure.
“Four cities — all in California — are now places where more than half of properties are worth above $1 million, real-estate company Redfin found in its analysis of housing values,” CBS News’ Moneywatch reports. “Prior to the pandemic, only San Francisco boasted a property market where a majority of homes had crossed the million-dollar threshold.”
Now, according to the report, San Francisco (89% of homes worth $1 million or more) is now joined by San Jose (86%) Anaheim (55%) and Oakland (55%) in that distinction.
In western Nevada County, 19.3% of the homes listed for sale last week were priced at $1 million or above.
The median price of a home sold in western Nevada County last month was $535,000, down 1.8% from January, and 5.3% off from the record $565,000 recorded in July and August of 2021. But last month’s median price was still up 9.2% up from sales one year ago, in February 2021.
Despite the low inventory of homes for sale, and the challenges presented by the pandemic, western Nevada County still a saw significant increase in the total number of homes sold in each of the past two years. There were 1,804 homes sold locally in 2021, up from 1,744 in 2020 and 1,460 sold in 2019.
If that trend is to continue, western county sales will need to see an uptick, as 204 homes have been sold in the first two months of 2022, 13 fewer than the same period one year ago. First-quarter sales totaled 357 units sold in 2021.
Brian Hamilton is a Realtor (Lic.# 02149112) and assistant to the regional manager for the Betsy Hamilton Real Estate Team (Lic.# 01936209) at RE/MAX Gold in Grass Valley. This column is published monthly at TheUnion.com. For more information, contact him at Br***@Be***********.com or visit http://www.BetsyHamilton.com
