Post by unlawflcombatnt on Jan 23, 2007 13:48:43 GMT -6
Below is part of an article by Jim Wasserman from the "Sacramento Bee", exemplifying the housing bubble's bursting in the Sacramento area, as well as the remainder of California.
"'06 housing stats tell a scary tale
Dwindling sales and ever-plunging prices mark boom's end.
By Jim Wasserman - Bee Staff Writer....
January 18, 2007
Two months ago Mark Aizenberg and his wife were Sunday driving when she spotted an open house and said four fateful words, "Let's stop and look."
The rest is 2006 house-hunting history. The couple fell in love with the 2,400-square-foot Arden Hills home and watched the price tumble from $745,000 to $699,000 -- then to $624,000.
The Aizenbergs offered $575,000. Then came a $600,000 counteroffer.
"We said $585,000 and they said 'Yes,' " says Aizenberg, a Wachovia Securities vice president who moved into the house in mid-December.
Perhaps no story better captures Sacramento-area real estate during 2006, a year when a small number of buyers wielded immense power amid greater supply than demand.
Last year marked the first time in the region since 1999 that annual sales of new and existing houses and condominiums didn't break 47,000, according to statistics released Wednesday by DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla. And though the number of homes still on the market has dropped from summer, 2006 ended with nearly 11,000 houses for sale in four area counties.
DataQuick reported about 42,300 homes and condos closed escrow in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties in 2006 -- about 23,300 fewer than in 2005. The region's record tally for home sales: 70,179 in 2004, the year the housing boom peaked.
A turbulent 12 months that brought a definitive end to the housing boom also closed with lower prices. Median sales prices -- the point where half cost more and half cost less -- were down 16.9 percent in Placer County from December 2005. Yolo County reported prices down 14.1 percent. Sacramento County prices were down 7 percent.
DataQuick attributed much of the year-over-year declines -- the steepest among California's urban counties -- to huge discounts offered by new home builders eager to clear inventory before year's end. Price cuts from $30,000 to $100,000 were not uncommon as 2006 ended.
December's 3,113 capital-area sales mirrored a downturn statewide. DataQuick reported a nine-year low for December sales in Placer and Sacramento counties and 10-year sales lows across much of the Bay Area and metropolitan Los Angeles.
The drops in 2005 forced all sectors of the state's housing industry to downsize, with land buyers, customer representatives in the home building industry, loan officers and real estate agents losing their jobs. But economists report that employment in other industries helped fill the vacuum, preventing the reductions from becoming a major drag on regional and state economies...."
The rest of the article can be found in the story from the Sacramento Bee: '06 housing stats tell a scary tale.
The Aizenberg's story may be an extreme example of price declines, but similar stories are occurring throughout California, as well as Florida, Arizona, and in the Washington, D.C. area. In fact, the price declines are even larger in Southern California and Florida.
"'06 housing stats tell a scary tale
Dwindling sales and ever-plunging prices mark boom's end.
By Jim Wasserman - Bee Staff Writer....
January 18, 2007
Two months ago Mark Aizenberg and his wife were Sunday driving when she spotted an open house and said four fateful words, "Let's stop and look."
The rest is 2006 house-hunting history. The couple fell in love with the 2,400-square-foot Arden Hills home and watched the price tumble from $745,000 to $699,000 -- then to $624,000.
The Aizenbergs offered $575,000. Then came a $600,000 counteroffer.
"We said $585,000 and they said 'Yes,' " says Aizenberg, a Wachovia Securities vice president who moved into the house in mid-December.
Perhaps no story better captures Sacramento-area real estate during 2006, a year when a small number of buyers wielded immense power amid greater supply than demand.
Last year marked the first time in the region since 1999 that annual sales of new and existing houses and condominiums didn't break 47,000, according to statistics released Wednesday by DataQuick Information Systems of La Jolla. And though the number of homes still on the market has dropped from summer, 2006 ended with nearly 11,000 houses for sale in four area counties.
DataQuick reported about 42,300 homes and condos closed escrow in Amador, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties in 2006 -- about 23,300 fewer than in 2005. The region's record tally for home sales: 70,179 in 2004, the year the housing boom peaked.
A turbulent 12 months that brought a definitive end to the housing boom also closed with lower prices. Median sales prices -- the point where half cost more and half cost less -- were down 16.9 percent in Placer County from December 2005. Yolo County reported prices down 14.1 percent. Sacramento County prices were down 7 percent.
DataQuick attributed much of the year-over-year declines -- the steepest among California's urban counties -- to huge discounts offered by new home builders eager to clear inventory before year's end. Price cuts from $30,000 to $100,000 were not uncommon as 2006 ended.
December's 3,113 capital-area sales mirrored a downturn statewide. DataQuick reported a nine-year low for December sales in Placer and Sacramento counties and 10-year sales lows across much of the Bay Area and metropolitan Los Angeles.
The drops in 2005 forced all sectors of the state's housing industry to downsize, with land buyers, customer representatives in the home building industry, loan officers and real estate agents losing their jobs. But economists report that employment in other industries helped fill the vacuum, preventing the reductions from becoming a major drag on regional and state economies...."
The rest of the article can be found in the story from the Sacramento Bee: '06 housing stats tell a scary tale.
The Aizenberg's story may be an extreme example of price declines, but similar stories are occurring throughout California, as well as Florida, Arizona, and in the Washington, D.C. area. In fact, the price declines are even larger in Southern California and Florida.