Our January report focused mostly on 2020’s annual statistics. This report will put most of its attention on quarterly and monthly indicators, which better illustrate changes occurring as 2020 progressed: pre-pandemic to initial pandemic crash through the subsequent market recovery. In some counties – and of course, Sonoma is one of them – the terrible fires of late summer, early autumn also affected market dynamics to varying degrees.

The 2021 market began with a bang: The number of listings going into contract in January was more than 50% higher than in January 2020, a tremendous increase. As is the norm, new listing activity climbed from the typical annual low point in December.

The next chart compares the year-over-year changes in sales for homes selling for over and under $2 million. Sales in the higher price segment saw an astounding surge in 2020, while sales under $2 million saw a much smaller increase. Neither statistic really does justice to the rapid acceleration in market activity occurring in the second half of the year.

The big jump in high-price home sales was a common dynamic around most of the Bay Area, though Sonoma County had the largest increase of all.