Despite US real estate marketing cooling, Sacramento remains a top destination for homebuyers
SACRAMENTO - The housing market has cooled in recent months, but Sacramento remains one of the most sought-after metro cities in the country to move to, according to Redfin.
We spoke to experts about what to expect from the housing market in 2023.
"Overall, Sacramento has been one of the most popular destinations for anyone looking to relocate. Most of those people are coming from the Bay Area," said Taylor Marr, a deputy chief economist with Redfin.
Redfin analytics show Sacramento is the number one metro area in the country people moved to in the fourth quarter of 2022, with more than 7,000 people looking to move here in November alone.
Marr says Sacramento has benefited from this migration because of many factors.
"The number one reason is really for affordability and for space and work from home allowing that untethering of having to work and live so close to your work," he said.
While winter is historically not a popular time of year to move, now might be the perfect time for potential home buyers to land a good deal.
"Right now is a great time for buyers because they have a little less competition than they saw a year or two ago," said Sacramento realtor Kimberly Prince.
Prince says inventory has shrunk since the peak of home sales in early 2022, which gives the buyer more bargaining power.
"This is the best time for a home buyer to get into the market because we have sellers that are motivated to sell," said mortgage planner Katie Pastor Trinidad.
Trinidad says that while interest rates were lower a year ago, there was also more demand and home values skyrocketed. Now that interest rates have leveled off, power is shifting in favor of buyers.
Homes are sitting on the market longer, and once in contract, homes are selling for below list price, and sellers and builders are more willing to offer concessions.
"Sometimes sellers are willing to cover some of the closing costs, so a buyer can just come in with the down payment. Sometimes we can negotiate to where we can get the interest rate lower for the first two years," said Pastor Trinidad.
The bottom line: If you are considering making a move this year, realtors like Prince say don't wait for interest rates to come down.
"I think it's a great time to purchase, because if everyone's waiting for x, y or z to happen in the future, the masses are going to join," said Prince.
And looking ahead, Redfin projects the housing market will pick up again.
"Rates are coming down, we are past peak rates, we are past peak inflation, there is optimism in the form of the market being able to recover where sales are bottoming out," said Prince. "We think more homes are going to start to hit the market and that will allow more people to buy and sell homes to move."