Oversupplied & Overpriced in Sonoma County

Facts from the latest pressdemocrat. (PR service for the Sonoma County REIC)

In order to get to the facts at all it requred that all Realtwhore spin be deleted.

The very respectability of the paper is not just in serious question, but is non-existent due to the pathological quotes from real estate industry shills lying through their teeth trying to get the last of the Greater Fools to pay them a commission. Yet they put it in print and call it "news."

Also, as a courtesy to those who aren't dim-witted enough to rely on the PD for news, the ridiculous magical thinking and blatant lies have also been deleted. (such as time to sell, and blather about inventory tightening.)

* Sonoma County home prices fell again in December

* 2006 sales hit a 10-year low and prices dropped from record highs

* Prices have fallen six consecutive months in year-to-year comparisons

* Housing has been in a downturn since the median resale price peaked at $619,000 in August 2005, ending eight years of strong sales and record price gains.

* Sales tumbled because a growing number of buyers could no longer afford to purchase homes in Sonoma County.

* Homeowners increasingly are pulling houses off the market in response to slow sales, often after cutting prices and still not drawing offers.

* Total sales for 2006 were 25% lower than 2005. It was the region's lowest sales volume since 1996.

* 2006 monthly prices climbed from March through June before falling from July through December. The first time prices had declined for six consecutive months since fall 1993 and winter 1994.

* Economists have said that prices still had room to fall, particularly because cost increases for buying homes have far outpaced income growth.

"The housing market is oversupplied and overpriced, and with merely average personal income growth, prices have risen far beyond what the market can bear," Sean Maher, research economist with Moody's Economy.com, wrote in a recent forecast for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board.

* Buyers remain cautious, reflected in the number of sales that fall through. In December, 27 percent of sales pending the end of November were not completed.

Good... when prices come down by the same percentage they have been overpriced, then it will be safe for buyers to return. Until then it is only the most foolish of the fools who are running in to catch a falling knife.

Sonoma County MLS: 2832
Price Reduced (ziprealty.com): 958
Foreclosures (foreclosure.com): 523
7.9 months supply of homes on the market based on current monthly sales rates

Sonoma Valley MLS: 281
Price Reduced (ziprealty.com): 113
Foreclosures (foreclosure.com): 45
9.3 months supply of homes on the market based on current monthly sales rates