Tag Archives: Madera

FRESNO: Fat Tuesday, Skinny Inventory

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Now is the time for homebuilders to open their stalled legacy projects. Beazer Homes recently closed out The Groves at Sunnyside Point, their neighborhood adjacent to KB Home’s Olive Lane new home community located in Sunnyside Fresno. New homebuilders will not have to compete as hard for new home buyers shopping the area.

HOME PRICES
According to the California Association of Realtors, Fresno County home prices increased 15.3%, but sales were down 22.2% from the previous year. Madera County saw prices increase 36.1%, but sales were down 24.4% from the previous year. However, sales are looking up with a 19.2% increase in sales from the previous month in Madera County.

December 2012 County Sales and Price Activity

Median Sold Price of Existing Single-Family Homes

# of Sales
County

12-Dec

12-Nov

11-Dec

MTM% Chg

YTY% Chg

MTM% Chg

YTY% Chg
Fresno

$157,620

$148,240

$136,740

6.3%

15.3%

-2.5%

-22.2%
Madera

$144,290

$113,330

$106,000

27.3%

36.1%

19.2%

-24.4%

Source: California Association of Realtors

UNSOLD INVENTORY & TIME ON MARKET
According to Land Advisors Organization research, unsold inventory in Fresno County decreased 7.3% from the previous year and Madera County decreased 47.4% from the previous year. The median time on market decreased 24.1% in Fresno County and increased 25.4% in Madera County from the previous year.

December 2012 County Unsold Inventory and Time on Market

Unsold Inventory Index

Median Time on Market
County

12-Dec

12-Nov

11-Dec

12-Dec

12-Nov

11-Dec
Fresno

3.8 Months

4.2 Months

4.1 Months

26.4 Days

26.3 Days

34.8 Days
Madera

2 Months

3.2 Months

3.8 Months

64.6 Days

27.9 Days

51.5 Days

Source: California Association of Realtors

FINISHED LOT INVENTORY
Home Buyer demand is escalating fast.  Quality resale inventory is sparse.  If you own 10 or more acres of land in the path of development, you should be at the City processing a subdivision map faster than Mardi Gras beads flying from a balcony overlooking Bourbon Street.  If you are not familiar with the entitlement process please contact me so I can help get you started.

NEW DEVELOPMENT
Fresno developers plan medical campus at Millerton Lake. FULL STORY

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, (559) 549-6326

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Fresno County Approved TTM Lots Going Once, Twice…

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Land Advisors Organization is pleased to say SHOUT! the handful of approved tentative tract maps (TTM) available for sale within Clovis’ city limits have been receiving multiple offers.  The City of Fresno is next to follow where lots previously located in “B” and “C” locations are quickly becoming the new “A” lots.   The time is now for developers and homebuilders to pounce on every reasonably priced TTM.  Call LAO’s Fresno office at (559) 549-6326 for a current list of available inventory.

POLL:  

HOME SALES:

  • Distressed homes sales are on the decline. FULL STORY
  • Home prices are up 18% from a year ago. FULL STORY

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: On November 7, 2012 The Madera County Board of Supervisors re-approved 4-0 the 1,656-acre, 5,190-home Tesoro Viejo planned urban community proposed by McCaffrey Group.

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, (559) 549-6326

WANTED: FRESNO LAND DEVELOPERS

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According to Fresno real estate blogger, BoNhai Lee, the City of Fresno says ±16,000 acres of land remain for housing development.  With that being said, Fresno is in need of land developers to entitle and process new tentative tract maps.

Land Advisors Organization’s Fresno office is happy to announce the San Joaquin Valley is (finally!) coming alive in “A” locations.  Builders are complaining there are not enough improved lots to choose from in Clovis and northeast Fresno.

POLL: 

RECENT CLOSINGS (September 2012): 

  • An investor purchased 36 finished lots in Madera (brokered by LAO)
  • A farmer purchased ±37 unimproved acres in Clovis (brokered by LAO)

NEW COMMUNITIES:

HOME SALES: According BoNhia Lee (@bonhialee), new home sales accounted for 5% of the Central Valley residential transactions this year compared to 26% in 2006.

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, (559) 549-6326

Fresno & Madera Counties Heating Up

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Good news, Madera is on the rebound.  Better news, you can still find improved finished lots below replacement cost….better hurry because prices are expected to increase!  FULL STORY

VACANT FINISHED LOT INVENTORY BY THE NUMBERS

CLOSINGS: August 2012 – Land Advisors closed seven vacant lots within Tract 5351 to a private homebuilder.  The private homebuilder bought the lots to expand its presence in the City of Clovis.

HOME SALES: Existing homes in Fresno are selling fast!  In June, Fresno resales reported a median of 43 days on market compared to a median of 90 days on market at the peak.  This represents a 52.2% decrease in days on market for Fresno.  FULL STORY

FEES: City development fees for Coalinga have been waived until April 2013.  Contact Matt Power at (805) 845-2660 or Mark Utman at (559) 549-6326 for further details.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: The controversial high speed rail construction along Highway 99 has been delayed until 2014. FULL STORY

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, (559) 549-6326

Giddy Up Fresno!

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Hold on to your hat… New homebuilders who have lot inventory in the Fresno sub-market are now building again!  Fresno construction starts are UP since the same time last year. 

Major Player: Lennar Homes – Fresno and Clovis combined saw 219 new construction starts in the last quarter of 2011, (4Q 2010 saw only 161 starts).  Lennar Homes led the way with the most starts of any builder with 43.  Wilson Homes and Bonadelle Neighborhoods came in a distant second and third with 27 and 26 starts, respectively. The most active sub-market in 4Q 2011 was Clovis South with 66 starts (up from 44 starts in 4Q 2010).

Lennar also controls the most lot inventory of any builder in Fresno.  Of the 2,425 total vacant finished lots in the Fresno sub-market, 296 (12%) are owned by the public homebuilder as of January 2012.

Project of Note – Bonadelle’s Bella Vista at Brighton is seeing impressive sales in its early phases.  The project’s success is breathing new life into the Millerton area sub-market as the first phase of the Brighton Master Plan.  The area boasts a ton of amenities including its location… a stones’ throw from Millerton Lake & Marina, Eagle Springs Golf & Country Club, and Table Mountain Casino.  With a natural setting and amenity package that is unrivaled in the greater Fresno area, Bonadelle is seeing buyers come out and purchase as a lifestyle choice and value play to living ‘in town.’  The Fresno Office of the Land Advisors Organization can bring you up to speed on this up-and-coming sub-market.

Home Prices – The latest data from Fiserv Case Shiller shows that national home prices are expected to grow at an annualized rate of 3.2% between 2011 and Q2 2016. BusinessInsider.com combed through Fiserv’s data and picked the best housing markets for the next five years…  Madera ranks No. 3 out of 15 on the list with anticipated annualized growth from 2011 – 2016 of +10.4%.

Multi-family – New high-end apartments finally return to Fresno with an apartment complex called The Shires. The Penstar Group, a real estate development and construction company in Fresno, recently broke ground on the project and is looking to accommodate pent-up demand now that local rent rates have leveled off.

New Office Location! – The Land Advisors’ Fresno office has relocated to 759 W. Alluvial Avenue, Suite 103, Fresno, CA 93711.  The new office phone number is: (559) 549-6326.  Stop by and say Hello!

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, mobile: (949) 533-8284

1.21 Gigawatts?! Trying to Get Back to the Future in Fresno…

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It seems as though the Fresno residential land market is revisiting its past… residential raw land is currently selling for prices paid back in 2000.  During the market peak five or six years ago, unimproved vacant land in “A” locations sold in Fresno for $300,000 per acre.  Today it’s going for prices ranging from $60,000 to $85,000 per acre.

Local homebuilders are in the early stages of reloading their land inventory.  Housing Capital is playing a huge part, as the lender is one of a few banks enthusiastic to offer A, D and C loans.

Recent Land Deal:  Homebuilders are buying un-entitled dirt again but in smaller bites.  A local builder just purchased 10 acres of unimproved land in the heart of northeastern Fresno.  

Fresno local homebuilder Granville Homes is knocking the dust off of Westlake, a master planned community in west central Fresno that has been “mothballed” for the last five years.  The 430-acre project is now scheduled to break ground sometime in 2012.  Westlake is a promising master plan by a talented local builder.  This could spur a land rush from builders and developers alike looking to ride the coattails of this new community now anchoring West Fresno.

According to Fiserv, a financial analytics company, Madera is on the mend…  Fiserv identified Madera (about 25 miles northwest of Fresno) as a “winner” in a long list of sub-markets around the U.S. in terms of housing valuations.  The Chicago Tribune article states that home values across the Nation are anticipated to decrease in the coming year, but that home values in the Madera area will gain 15.5%!

Fresh from the FresnoBee.com News Blog… the number of foreclosures in the Central Valley fell during the third quarter of this year compared to the same time a year ago.  However, building permits are way down. In Fresno, only 19 single-family permits were pulled in September compared to 113 in August, and 120 permits a year ago at the same time. …Adapting to changing demographics and consumers’ needs, Lennar Homes rolls out a new model in the Central Valley.

So, despite Fresno residential land values resetting to decade lows, Land Advisors is looking to blast a few gigawatts into the market with two large Fresno area listings in early November – stay tuned!

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant, (559) 449-4500

Fresno?… Fres-YES! Permits, Pigskins & Progress

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  • New home sales in Fresno and Madera Counties are still slumping www.ksee24.com
  • City of Fresno & City of Clovis together have 2,200 vacant finished lots.
  • Central San Joaquin Valley Single Family Permits pulled YTD = about 760
  • Foreclosures are down – www.thebusinessjournal.com
  • Fresno County unemployment is still hovering around 17%
  • One public homebuilder made the most notable lot purchase in 2011 – $85,000 per finished lot in a highly desirable area of Clovis
  • This month, the City of Sanger (15 minutes west of Fresno) eliminates development fees for new home construction. www.ksee24.com
  • 3Q 2011 – Land Advisors sold 17 acres in Clovis and 112 partially improved lots in Fresno.  Both were bank REO transactions.
  • Although many REOs sold to investors in 2011, there are still opportunities for investors to buy distressed lots/land.
  • Earlier this year Bonadelle Neighborhoods broke ground on the Brighton Master Plan. The first neighborhood will have 161 lots.  First home closing is scheduled around Thanksgiving. 
  • This summer Wilson Homes began construction on Herndon Avenue, building their new plan called “elev8ions” elev8ions.com
  • Last Saturday Fresno State Bulldogs traveled to Cal Berkeley… unfortunately the “Dogs” lost 36-21.  Next game is this Saturday at Nebraska.

Source: Mark Utman, Marketing Consultant (559) 449-4500 x127

South Central Valley: “Hold on Tight!”

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2011 began with renewed optimism that California’s Central Valley residential land market would improve and home sale prices would begin to stabilize.  As Q2 rolled around it became evident this optimism may be short-lived.

In 2011 the Central Valley sub-market (including Kern, Kings, Madera, and Tulare Counties) has seen a slight decrease in foreclosure and REO sales (currently at 32% and 28% respectively); yet new home sales continue to lag far behind at a little over 5% of total sales.

Tertiary markets (including the cities of Arvin, McFarland and Wasco) which traditionally attract builders who utilize government subsidies for potential home buyers are experiencing extended wait periods, or are unable to obtain financing altogether.

Most public homebuilders and larger regional builders have left the valley or “shelved” their projects until the market shows real signs of recovery.

However, there are investors and developers with long-term horizons looking for land/lot opportunities and have been successful in closing transactions throughout the South Central Valley.

Source: Jason Hepp, Senior Marketing Consultant, (661) 702-9080 x14