Sacramento County's median price for resale homes rose by nearly 14% in January compared to the same month last year, though the number of sales slumped from December in a typical seasonal pattern, CoreLogic reported Thursday.
"It's normal for sales to drop between January and December, and this year's 18.5% decline in total Sacramento County sales was lower than the average drop of 25.8% between those two months over the last 30 years," said Andrew LePage, an analyst with the Irvine-based real estate tracking firm.
The double-digit percentage increase in the median price of resale detached homes in the county was partly a result of overall rising prices and partly a change in the mix of homes sold, LePage noted. The median is the price at which half of homes sell for more and half sell for less. It was $330,000 in Sacramento County in January, up from $290,000 in January 2017.
The Sacramento region's three other counties also saw the median price for resale homes rise year over year. El Dorado County had a 14.7% increase. Placer had a 6.7% jump and Yolo had less than a 1% gain.
In Sacramento County, "the magnitude of the year-over-year gain in the median mainly reflects the mismatch between housing demand and supply — and especially the supply of more affordable homes — but also a shift toward more of the activity occurring in the mid- to high-end of the market, largely because of how limited supply is in the lower end," LePage said.
