June home sales in EDC

The number of monthly home sales in El Dorado County began its decent a year ago. It was June of 2005 when the number of monthly sales started slipping while the number of listings began their accent in record numbers. Last month the number of residential sales in the county was up slightly over May but dropped 22 percent over closed sales in June of 2005. It was the slowest June for county home sales since 1998. There was, however, some good news about the 22 percent drop,…… it could have been worse. From the beginning of the year our monthly year-over-year sales numbers have dropped an average of 32 percent. Last month was a 10-point improvement.

The severity of declining sales could be easing but there is still an eight-month supply of houses for sale. With that amount of existing housing inventory, our “buyer’s market” will be with us until the spring or summer of 2007. The total number of homes for sale in the county is currently 1,764 with only 215 reported sales during the month of June.

El Dorado Hills has 500 homes listed with the Multiple Listing Service. Last month, 66 were reported sold with an average price of $685,500. While the number of monthly sales increased in June from May, homes sales were down 21 percent from June of 2005 and the average selling price fell from $724,000 a year ago to $685,500 last month.

Cameron Park was the second most active real estate area in the county. Currently, Cameron Park has 232 homes for sale, 31 sales were reported last month, with an average price tag of $537,600. The number of sales was off 31 percent from last year same month but the average price climbed $53,500.

The Placerville area had more monthly home sales than a year ago and at a higher price. The area currently has 200 listings and there were 26 sales last month, for an average price of $441,000.

Pollock Pines/Sly Park currently has 176 homes listed with the Multiple Listing Service. The area reported 16 sales during June with an average selling price of $388,000 up from $367,000 in June of 2005.

Other more active areas in the county were: Shingle Springs with 77 listings and 7 monthly sales for an average price of $652,600. Diamond Springs/El Dorado has 97 homes for sale, 11 sold last month with a $505,000 average price. Georgetown/Garden Valley has 89 properties with a “For Sale” sign in the front yard. Nine sold in June for an average price of $376,500 and Cool/Pilot Hill has 80 homes listed, seven monthly sales were reported at an average price of $449,000.

The county’s average home price for the month at $550,000 appears to be holding above last year, despite slower marketing times, more listings than ever before and a record number (250) of monthly expired/withdrawn listings.

While the number of new listing for the month (518) were nearly two-and-a-half times the total number of sales and was 42 percent higher than June of 2005, the number was less than May’s (584). This is a good sign if the trend continues. The imbalance in our real estate market is the result of more sellers than buyers.

Home values for the year remain stable or above last year’s level. If “less than serious sellers” would remove their over-priced listings and fewer new ones would get listed, our market could be balanced within a year. If the rate of new monthly listings, in proportion to the current number of sales doesn’t decline, I expect the average price will.

Employment gains in capital region

One thing that is preventing a really severe tumble of our housing market is the positive gains in regional employment we are enjoying. As long as people have jobs they will need a roof over their heads to protect them from the rain in the winter and a place to set the air conditioner. They will either rent, filling up vacant rental units or they will eventually buy, decreasing our excess inventory and propping up home values. Either way the real estate market benefits from employment gains. People without jobs move to places where they can find work.

So how hot is our regional employment? Nearly half of all employment gains in the state last month were in the Sacramento Region. That’s really record growth! According to the Employment Development Department, California added 11,000 new jobs in June. The Capital Region accounted for 5,100 of the state’s total. It was the largest one-month gain in regional employment this year.

With the decline in new home construction are we seeing large layoff in the construction industry? Nope, not yet. As a matter of fact, we are adding more employees to construction payrolls. What’s up with that? Commercial and Industrial employment added nearly 2,000 new jobs last month according to David Lyons, the EDD labor consultant.

Statewide job growth is growing at a robust 1.6 percent while the job market in the Cap. Region is growing at the rate of 2.3 percent a year. The unemployment level in the region is 4.7 percent while the state’s average is 4.9 percent. Both are very good numbers. To gain some perspective on the unemployment number, in 1993 the regional unemployment was 8.4 percent. Between 1997 and 2003 unemployment averaged 5.3 percent. In 2004 it was 5.4 and now 4.7.

Just how good are the opportunities for finding work in our region? I was picking up a double-bacon-cheeseburger at the drive-up window of McDonald’s last week and noticed a sign in the window that they are paying $10 an hour for new hires. I take comfort in knowing there is another career opportunity for me if this one doesn’t work out.