Agent: "No Doubt Pricing Has Dropped," 5% to 10% in Some Areas

The largest development in Roseville history is set to hit the housing market this summer/fall, amid rising inventory. The Roseville Press-Tribune reports that in January, Placer County housing inventory shot up 272% compared with the previous year.

Just west of Sun City Roseville, the heavy currency of large-scale grading equipment precedes this summer's arrival of framing crews putting up model homes, followed by eventual houses and people. And with the West Roseville Specific Plan marching forward toward populating the area, city officials say development will bring nearly 21,000 people to Roseville over a 15-year build-out period, in four phases. The 3,162 acres of land will be built out by two companies - WestPark Associations and Signature Properties - and represent the biggest development in the history of the city...

But a real estate market with rising supply and buyers employing growing leverage could mean a changed sales climate.

The WestPark portion - the southern half of the project - will begin building units in July or August when model homes are completed. Expect to see residents begin moving into the first phase by fall, said Bennett. "What's interesting about new communities like this, I don't know of any builders that have set pricing. They don't until just before they open for sales," Bennett said. "That's part of the market, and the other part is the tweaking they continue to do to the home plans..."

Roseville Realtor Craig Seydel said that local builders seem "bullish" on new housing starts despite a local market where buyer power is making a decidedly notable comeback in recent months. According to statistics released by the Placer County Association of Realtors, housing inventory in January 2006 shot up to 562 listings compared 206 to a year before then. Despite a 272 percent increase in inventory, the median sale price had also increased to $432,500 from $406,000, or 6.5 percent. That's decidedly down from previous years.

"There's no doubt pricing has dropped. It's 5 percent in some areas, or even 10 percent," said Seydel of RE/Max Gold. "There's more room for negotiation to be done."

However, Seydel said he isn't too worried about an oversupply because large-scale developers can afford to work off smaller margins in selling new homes. "We've had so much residential growth and we're starting to see commercial growth," Seydel said. "Regardless of what the experts are talking about, we are in a soft landing."