Tight market keeps pushing home prices higher in Sacramento region

An extraordinarily low supply of homes for sale pushed prices higher for the fourth straight month this spring and summer across the Sacramento region.

In June, the median home price of $335,000 in Sacramento County was the highest in 10 years, real estate tracking firm CoreLogic reported Wednesday.

Total sales in the four-county region fell by 3.6 percent compared with June 2016, the firm reported. CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage said the drop in sales was likely linked to the scant supply.

“I think the main reason sales fell is the thin inventory,” LePage said. “If more homes, especially in lower prices ranges, were available, we’d see higher sales. That tight inventory has become one of the main reasons we continue to see price gains.”

Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties also saw sizable increases in the median price of single-family resale homes from May to June of this year.

The supply of homes for sale in Sacramento County has hovered around a month’s worth recently, meaning it would take about that much time to sell all the homes on the market. Anything less than three months of inventory is considered a sellers’ market.

Many homes go into contract with days of being listed – a boon for sellers but a headache for buyers, who continue to bid up prices as they compete for the few houses available.

This story was originally published July 26, 2017 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Tight market keeps pushing home prices higher in Sacramento region."