Spring Sales Activity Jumps; Median Sales Prices Slightly Down Year-over-Year.

Long-Term Median Home Price Trends

Short-Term Median Home Price Trends

The peak median house sales price in Sonoma County was hit in June of last year.

Year-over-Year Comparisons, March-May

As we have gotten deeper into spring, the market has heated up considerably. However, by almost all standard statistical measures, it is cooler than the extremely hot market of spring 2018. Other markets in the Bay Area have experienced similar changes in dynamics.

Home Sales Volume by Month

March was a low sales volume month, but April and May 2019 have jumped back up to levels comparable to the same periods of 2017 and 2018. In the last 2 years, August has been the month with the highest number of sales. Sales in one month mostly reflect accepted-offer activity in the previous month.

Higher-Price Home Sales by Month

Median Home Price Changes
for Selected County Markets

Comparing annual median home prices to partial year prices is not really an apples-to-apples comparison because of the effect of market seasonality on sales prices, but the below analysis is still an interesting indicator of home-price trends: Most of Sonoma’s city markets saw a small decline in median house prices, though a couple ticked up higher.

Full-year 2019 median home prices may be significantly different than the year-to-date figures.

Home Values by City Median Price, Bedroom Count
& Average Dollar per Square Foot Value

Click here to go to our updated map of Bay Area median house prices.

Selected Market Indicators

Selected Economic Snapshots

The chart below shows unemployment trends for Bay Area counties further south, but for the past 6 months, the Sonoma unemployment rate has ranged from 2.5% to 3.3%, i.e. very similar to the very low, recent rates illustrated. Bay Area county historical trend lines are similar across the board.

With the Q1 2019 decline in both median sales prices and interest rates, housing affordability ticked up around the Bay Area. Sonoma County saw the largest year-over-year, Q1 2018 to Q1 2019 increase, jumping from 21% to 27% (of households being able to buy the median priced house). Part of this was due to a decline in interest rates, and part due to a year-over-year, Q1 to Q1 drop in the median house sales price. The fires put a lot of pressure on county home prices in the first quarter of last year.