FAIRFIELD — The Solano County home market continues to be challenged by the lack of inventory – creating a sellers market that the president of the Northern Solano County Association of Realtors said has some interesting twists.
“Currently, we have more buyers than we have homes to sell,” said Patty Hopkins, president of the Realtors association and a Realtor with McGuire Capital Group Realty in Vacaville.
“But it’s a good time for the buyer to buy because interest rates are still low. They are in the low 4s,” she added.
Hopkins, who got her license in 1991 but only became a full-time Realtor in 2005, was elected president in November. The association has about 1,000 members, and said she doesn’t expect to see the rolls increase much, if any, in 2019.
As of late March, there were about 380 homes listed for sale. There have been 1,390 homes sold over the past six months, an average of about 232 homes sold per month.
“So we have six weeks of inventory,” Hopkins said in a March 27 interview.
The average price of home sales over the past three months is $445,633 with the most targeted homes being three- and four-bedrooms with two bathrooms.
Hopkins said any home priced below $450,000 is being gobbled up “like hot cakes.” As the price goes up, the pace of sale slows considerably.
She said that is especially true for the Vallejo area, where the home market is “red-hot” because the more affordable stock and lower rental costs.
The Northern Solano market is defined by the association’s territory of Fairfield, Vacaville, Suisun City, Dixon, Rio Vista and the surrounding unincorporated areas that include Green Valley, Suisun Valley and Cordelia.
She said there is no particular area that appears to be more active than the others.
In general, homes are staying on the market longer than they did last year, with an average stay in 2018 being 46 days, while the 2019 average has been 61 days.
What effect the weather has had is hard to assess, and the sellers’ prices may have more to do with the time it takes to sell.
“I think sellers were coming in too aggressive on their price, that they have wanted too much,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins said she has had to tell many of her clients that their original asking prices, despite the lack of inventory, have been too high for the buyers’ market view.
The Realtor said she is happy to see some new construction sites in the area moving forward because that will add to the inventory and help the home market overall.
“It’s only going to help to get those new homes up,” Hopkins said.
The principal unknown is the future economy, and specifically the global market and the potential impact on interest rates. She said that adds to the value of the market for buyers now.
“I think with the uncertainty of what is happening in the global market, and what the interest rates will be, I think it is a good time to buy,” Hopkins said.
But with the competition for homes, it is also a good time to sell.
