Something is happening.  According to the National Association of Realtors news story, “Existing-Home Sales Rise in February,” the sale of existing homes across America increased in February by 2.9 percent to an adjusted annual rate of just over 5 million.  The January annual rate was 4.89 million homes for the year.  Compared to last year sales in February were 23.8 percent off the pace set in February 2007.

According to the NAR chief economist, Lawrence Yun, “We’re not expecting a notable gain in existing-home sales until the second half of this year, but the improvement is another sign that the market is stabilizing,” he said. “Buyers taking advantage of higher loan limits for both FHA and conventional mortgages will unleash some pent-up demand. As inventories are drawn down, prices in many markets should go positive later this year.”

The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $195,900 in February, down 8.2 percent from a year earlier when the median was $213,500. Because the slowdown in sales from a year ago is greater in high-cost areas, according to the NAR story, there is a downward pull to the national median with relatively fewer sales in higher priced markets.

How does this national picture compare to our local Sacramento market, especially the comment about inventories being drawn down?    This is the time of year that we traditionally see inventory start growing toward a summer peak.  According to HousingTracker, the number of homes on the market in their defined Sacramento area was 15,100 as of March 24.  Surprisingly this is down from a week earlier and 0.8 percent below a month ago.  Rather than seeing inventory grow, it appears to have stayed relatively flat for the past 12 weeks. 

The level of inventory is still high when compared to the level of sales.  Although holding right now it is still 6.6 percent above where we were a year ago.  We would have to hold the current inventory level through April to be at the same level as we were at the end of April last year.  With foreclosures and short sales still increasing that is a tall order.  The good news is that spring inventory is not growing at a rate that it did in the last two years.

How does the Sacramento prices compare to the National average?  Clearly we are contributing to what the NAR says is a “downward pull.”  The median price of a home in the Sacramento area this week, according to HousingTracker was $309,900.  This is a staggering decline of 22.5 percent from a year ago and down 1.6 percent from one month ago.  So prices are still going down but it appears the decline is slowing and in fact during the past week the median price actually increased for the first time in the past 8 weeks. 

Something is happening and maybe, just maybe, it is the start of our market beginning to stabilize. 

About the author:  Julie Jalone is Realtor with MagnumOne Realty in Roseville and works with buyers and sellers of homes in the Sacramento area.  She is one of the most experienced “short sale” specialists in the area and you can learn more about her and her business by visiting her website at www.jalone.com