Shasta County Market Stats – Page 2

Redding Home Sales for January

Redding homes sales were up when compared to last January, however price per square foot and the median home price continue to decline.

The Shasta County MLS has 63 homes sold in Redding for January 2010 and 55 for January ’09. The average sold price per square foot for Jan ’10 was $127 compared to $137 this time last year.

The median home price also declined from $241,988 last January to $219,131 this month.

Newer homes in Redding continue to hold stronger values with the average sales price being $286,172 and an average price per square foot of $155.90.

Shasta County home sales also saw in increase from 98 homes sold this time last year to 108 this January.

A Bright Spot In Shasta County’s Housing Market

An article in today’s Redding Record Searchlight had some good news about Shasta County’s Housing Market.

Bargain hunters and first-time home buyers taking advantage of increased affordability helped drive October sales in Shasta County.

Year-over-year home sales increased for the second straight month, while the median sales price for a house in Shasta County dropped for the fifth consecutive month.

“Right now, you have some real opportunities for first-time buyers – low interest rates and good loan programs, if they qualify,” Shasta Association of Realtors President Greg Lloyd said Monday.

DataQuick Information Systems reported that 168 homes were sold in Shasta County in October, unchanged from September and an 11.3 percent increase over October 2007.

The median sales price in October for new and used homes was $212,000, slightly down from $212,750 in September and an 11.5 percent decline from $239,500 a year ago.

The Shasta Association of Realtors reported 178 homes sold in October, one more than in September and a 24 percent jump from October 2007. The Realtors’ group relies on members to report sales. DataQuick pulls numbers from the county.

More telling is that nearly seven of every 10 homes sold in October were houses that went for $250,000 and less, according to the Shasta Association of Realtors.

“I think we are seeing that we may be getting close to the bottom,” said Brad Garbutt, a Shasta Association of Realtors board member. “The fact the rate of prices dropping has slowed, and the number of buyers is up shows us the market might be hitting bottom.”

Lower interest rates, which started falling last week, also have spurred interest among buyers.

On Monday, the rate for a 30-year Federal Housing Administration loan stood at 5.5 percent, said Tom Semb of Amerigroup Loan Center in Redding.

“Some people are getting the news,” Semb said of lower rates. “We are certainly seeing some of our business pick up.”

But Garbutt cautioned that until the flood of foreclosures and bank-owned properties stops, the market isn’t going to turn.

About four out of every 10 used homes sold in October had been foreclosed on at some point in the prior 12 months, DataQuick reported.

“The whole key is stopping foreclosures,” Garbutt said. “We will not dig ourselves out of this until we stop the tide of foreclosures – it’s keeping prices down, keeping the market down and keeps everybody pessimistic.”

Shasta County Sees A Slight Increase In Foreclosure Filings For The Month Of October

Foreclosure filings in Shasta County increased 32% over the previous month. There were 78 notices of default filed with the Shasta County Recorder’s office in the month of October, compared to September’s low of 59.

When we compared this month last year we saw 22% fewer filings. In October 2007 there were 95 notices of default filed and we only had 78 in October of 2008.

Last month we speculated that the cause for the major drop from Augusts high of 206 foreclosure notices was due to State Senate Bill 1137. SB 1137 forces banks to take certain steps before filing foreclosure. We expected a bigger jump in default notices this month as lenders get back on track from the delays caused by SB 1137, but it appears the bill is having a lasting effect and is working.

Earlier this month Countrywide, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and now Citi, revealed plans to keep homeowners in their homes by doing major loan modifications, these programs are scheduled to start in December. Loan modifications in the past have not been that effective; however the banks are starting to realize this and are making significant drops in principal and interest for qualified homeowners. We feel this will have an effect and the foreclosure filings will flatten out over the next few months and start to decline in the first quarter of next year.

September Foreclosure Filings Drop 71% in Shasta County

Foreclosure filings in Shasta County dropped significantly compared to the previous month. There were only 59 Notices of Default filed compared the previous months number of 206.

When we compared this month last year we saw a 34% fewer filings. September 2007 there were 89 notices of default file and only 59 in September 2008.

This significant drop could be a result of lenders being more motivated to work with borrowers and resolving the loan delinquency before it gets to foreclosure. This could be a good sign however we are expecting next month’s number to be well above a hundred but below Augusts high of 206.

July Foreclosure Filings in Shasta County

Shasta County Foreclosure filings in July increased slightly from previous month. There were a total of 166 Notice of Default’s filed. That number is up from the 162 filings in June 08 and is a 54% increase from this time last year.

54 % increase in Notice of Default Filings compared to July 2007!

There were a total of 108 notices filed in July ’07 and 166 notices filed in ‘08

Receive a FREE list of Pre-Foreclosure properties www.ReddingForeclosures.com

Shasta County July Housing Stats

I am a few days late putting the July sales data together but It is now complete. July was a decent month with homes sales increasing over last month from 155 to 167 homes sold. New listings were down from 434 to 424, and active inventory slightly climing to 1961 homes. The chart I put together below compares July 08 to July 07 & 06.

	New Listings	Active Listings	Sold Listings	Months Inventory
July 08	424	1961	167	11.74
July 07	517	2227	188	11.85
July 06	590	1991	216	9.22

The year over year comparison looks pretty good with the exception of sold listings, that is to be expected given our current market conditions. The new listing numbers are down quite a bit and this is helping keep the active homes for sale at a healthy number.