Dataquick: All Eyes on the Sacramento Market, Weakest March Since 1999

Sacbee.com has some March Dataquick statistics. The extended print edition should give more details tomorrow.

Sales of existing homes in the Sacramento metropolitan area jumped sharply in March from February levels, but the sales of 2,489 homes across four counties were still the lowest for a March since 1999.

Buying in the four-county region was off 29.5 percent in March 2006 from the same month in 2005, according to La Jolla-based DataQuick Information Systems. That's a far steeper drop than in most of the state's major urban counties, the firm reported. Elsewhere in California, March year-to-year dips in the number of sales ranged from 17 percent in San Diego County to 12 percent in Contra Costa County.

"Last year all eyes were on San Diego, and what we're noticing now is people are watching Sacramento just as closely to see if the market can really pull off this soft landing," said DataQuick analyst Andrew LePage.

I was wondering what happened to Andrew LePage, who was the long-time housing journalist for the Sacramento Bee. Looks like DataQuick snagged him.

The number of homes for sale in Sacramento, Yolo, El Dorado and Placer counties also continued to swell in March, reaching 10,316 compared to 3,799 the same time in 2004, according to Sacramento-based TrendGraphix...