Over the last 6 months, the Sacramento region has posted solid housing numbers to give the new home builders optimism for the future of this area.  Stuck in the mud for the last 2-3 years, the region looks like it is pulling itself off the bottom and headed in a better direction.  Although REO sales are still plentiful compared to 2005, the trends are positive.

The region should see approximately 15,000 REO sales this year, but that is 15% less than 2011 and 30% of peak 2008 numbers (22,131).  New home sales for the region are expected to almost double what they were for 2011, climbing up well over 3,000 new home sales for 2012.  It also important to note that currently in the region, new home sales account for approximately 3.4% of total home sales and that at the peak of the market, new home sales accounted for approximately 26.3% of the overall home sale market.

With this further evidence of a bottoming of the housing market and plenty of room to mature, builders have anticipated the next boom and they are back buying again. Approximately a half dozen deals have been purchased over the last few months with more builder deals currently in escrow.

Source: Jim Radler, Senior Marketing Consultant, (916) 784-3329 ext. 11