Home Prices Sizzle In Sacramento: 'Is The Ball Going To Drop Soon?'
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A home price sizzle in Sacramento is showing no signs of slowing down — even for less desirable houses, including one place that sold despite being badly damaged in a fire.
There is only one home in Sacramento County that is listed for sale under $200,000. It's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Del Paso Heights that is just over 500 square feet. It's asking price is $197,000.
Fred Wilcox is the real estate agent selling the home. He's been in the business for more than three decades and has never seen the housing market like this.
"I guess the question is: is anything a fairly priced house these days?" he said.
According to Zillow, it's the cheapest single-family house for sale in Sacramento County, and only five other home in the area are listed below $300,000.
"It would be nice if there were more, but that ship has sailed a long time ago," said Ryan Lundquist, an appraiser and housing analyst.
Another example of how hot housing is right now: a burnt out home in North Sacramento has extensive fire damage, but the three bedroom, one bath home was listed for $125,000 and is now off the market with a sale pending.
"I remember when these crispy homes were selling for $20,000, but we're not in that market anymore, and so $125,000 — you can't get much of anything and that's pretty much the price of the land," Lundquist said.
So why are housing prices continuing to climb?
"We have a lopsided situation where fewer sellers are listing their homes. When the pandemic started, sellers sort of pumped the brakes," Lundquist said. "But we've also had mortgage rates below 3%, have sort of supercharged the market."
And these experts say there's no sign of prices plummeting.
"We keep wondering, 'Is the ball going to drop soon?' And everything is pointing to no," Wilcox said.
For some added perspective, last year, there were about 28,000 homes sold in the Sacramento region. Only 58 of those were purchased for under $200,000.