Placer County housing market leads the region — but it still shows signs of slowing down

While the real estate market in the Sacramento region is showing some signs of slowing, that is not the case for booming Placer County.

Homes are still selling above asking price, with multiple offers — and they’re selling fast.

Homes are “literally flying off the shelves,” said Ryan Lundquist, a certified residential appraiser and housing market analyst, as well as the author of Sacramento Appraisal Blog.

According to new data, it’s only taking six median days for a home to sell in 2021, meaning half of all sales took six or fewer days to get into contract.

And whereas Sacramento County homes dropped slightly in median price between August and September, about 1.9%, Placer County’s median price continued to climb, rising 1.6%. The median price of a home in Placer County is now $650,000, according to MLS data.

However, the average number of days on the market did increase from August to September, showing some signs of slowing down, though still nowhere near pre-pandemic normal.

“We are of course seeing some seasonal slowing, which is a good thing because we don’t want a repeat of the market last year when prices basically kept rising throughout the fall. That sort of growth is not sustainable,” Lundquist said. “In short, we are starting to see the typical signs we’d expect for this time of year with prices softening, it’s taking slightly longer to sell, and there aren’t as many bidding wars.”

In 2019, little more than half of all homes for sale in the Sacramento region sold at listing price. Now, only 26% of homes are selling at list price; the vast majority are selling for 5 to 10% over asking price.

Price per square foot also dropped from $330 to $320 between August and September.

In Placer County, the demand for luxury properties is driving a large portion of the market, Lundquist said, making this year far from normal.

In 2020, 263 properties sold for $1 million or more, but this year that number has nearly tripled. By mid-October 2021, 603 properties sold in Placer County for $1 million or more.

“It’s of course easy to blame Bay Area buyers for this trend, but the truth is throughout the country we’ve seen an emphasis on the luxury market, so this is not just migration from the Bay Area,” Lundquist said. “Low mortgage rates along with the pandemic have simply been a catalyst for buyers at higher price points to make a move. Placer County tends to offer newer and larger homes compared to Sacramento County, and that’s part of the allure.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 5:00 AM.