If you have the cash, which most investors do, then you are living life in the fast lane. With record numbers of foreclosures and short sales, now is the perfect opportunity to capitalize on the American Dream. However, in most cases, this is a dream that will not end soon.
Record numbers of investors and cash-buyers in January drove Sacramento County home sales to normal levels for the month but dragged down the median sales price to tie a 10-year low.
Sacramento County’s housing market kicked off the new year with 1,561 total sales – new and resale homes and condos – a 5.4 percent increase from the same month last year and just under the 1,584 home sales January has averaged over the past two decades, according to figures released Thursday by La Jolla-based researcher DataQuick Information Systems.
Of those home sales last month, 34.3 percent were to absentee owners. That’s the largest percentageof absentee buyers for any month since 2000 when DataQuick began tracking such data.
“The investors and others targeting lower-cost properties stayed busy during the holidays,” said Andrew Le- Page, a DataQuick analyst. “This is all about bargain hunting.”
Nearly 38 percent of sales in the county last month went to buyers paying cash – often the mark of an investor.
The median price in January was $160,000 – matching the median price in February 2009 as the lowest since December 2000, when the median was $159,000.
Distressed properties – short sales and foreclosures – continue to dominate the market, according to DataQuick.
In January, more than half of all resales were homes that had been foreclosed on some time during the prior year.
Conversely, January set a record low for sales of new homes. Only 40 new homes sold in Sacramento County last month.
Whether you are an investor, or a new family trying to take a piece of the pie, this is the perfect time to jump into the real estate market. Rates are still at historic lows, as well as the home prices. You may not see another opportunity like this in your life time.
*Robert Lewis of Sacramento Bee contributed to this posting