Friday, June 23, 2006

Sacramento Land(ed) at 0.00%, Yolo Pops: Double-Digit Depreciation Era Begins?

The housing Eagle has landed. According to just-released DataQuick figures, Sacramento County experienced no appreciation in May 2006, as compared to May 2005. The median price for all homes (single family homes, condos, and new homes) in Sacramento County was $367,000 for both May 2005 and May 2006.

In fact, according to DataQuick, no county in the Sacramento region saw price appreciation in May, with the three other counties suffering price depreciation:

  • Sacramento: 0.00%
  • Placer: -2.02%
  • El Dorado: -3.89%
  • Yolo: -11.14%

Did you notice the double-digit decline in Yolo County? In February, I noted that Placer County was the only listed California county to suffer depreciation in January. Now it appears that Yolo County is the only (and perhaps first) listed county to suffer double-digit depreciation. The same caveat applies: Yolo is a small county and the monthly numbers are much more erratic than those of more populated counties like Sacramento. But even so, when was the last time a California county found itself with double digit depreciation?

Last time I asked whether the era of depreciation had begun. Now that the Sacramento housing boom is officially over, is the double digit depreciation era about to commence? Will the Eagle take flight back into the air, roll along the surface, or sink into the quicksand? Stay tuned...

4 comments:

Lander said...

The Central Valley Business Times has an article on this same topic.

Anonymous said...

I don't doubt that the market is coming down, but can somebody explain to me why those other counties are seeing such large increases in prices?

Rob Dawg said...

For some reason our friend Mr. Lockwood at http://www.sacramento-home.com/real-estate-events/ is late reporting this information.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous,

You have to remember that some of these other counties especially in the Central Valley just experience the run up by out of town speckkers and th e subsequent panic buying by locals. In Tulare County almost 40 % of the reale houses were bought in 2005 were speculators and guess what is sweeling the inventory in these counties to all time high. Also be careful when you see the Median price YoY in smaller counties. It doesn't take many expensive houses to really elevate this number. Just be glad that a alot of the insane 20-30+ YOY gains are gone. it will be interesting how the press will carry the 1-4% yoy and even negative ones come this fall.