Lodi Inventory "Near Record Highs," Elk Grove Surpasses October High Water Mark

The Lodi News-Sentinel reports on the cooling Lodi housing market. Buried among the soufflé talk are these factoids:

[T]he average sales price reached an all-time high of $450,000 in November 2005....The average sale price of a single-family home in Lodi settled to $387,851 in February. Homes that would sell in about 30 days a year ago are now on the market for an average of 65 days, according to Lodi real estate agents. But sales are keeping pace; inventory was near record highs at 277 last month...

Buyers are slowly regaining the upper hand in the local market, agents say, and dollars are doing the talking. "We have fewer buyers, larger inventory -- It's all about price," said Theresa Williams, of Katzakian Williams Sherman Real Estate Co.

Athena, over at the Sonoma Housing Bubble blog has this commentary about the article.

Meanwhile, the Elk Grove housing market is experiencing a spring rush of inventory. Since October, I have been tracking the Elk Grove area (zip codes 95624, 95757, and 95758) using Metrolist MLS (link also on the right, under "Tools"). Yesterday, the inventory of single-family homes surpassed the October 2005 peak. Here's the breakdown:

• October 24, 2005: 1,411
• January 3, 2006: 1,034
• March 21, 2006: 1,416

We'll have to wait and see whether the entire Sacramento region follows this trend and surpasses the autumn high mark.