The Local Lowdown
Quick Take:
- Median sale prices continue to decline throughout most of the North Bay, with the exception of Marin County.
- We saw a steep decline in the amount of inventory on the market, with total for-sale single-family home listings dropping by 10.74%, compared to May 2024.
- Despite this drop in inventory, listings are still staying on the market for slightly longer than they were last year.
Note: You can find the charts/graphs for the Local Lowdown at the end of this section.
Median sale prices decline throughout most of the North Bay
Last month, we saw the median sale price of single-family homes drop throughout most of the North Bay. While Marin County was the only area that saw an increase (2.72%), Napa County sale prices took a huge hit, declining by 12.03% when compared to this time last year. Solano and Sonoma counties saw more modest declines in median sale prices, with values dropping by 2.93% and 2.52%, respectively. Median sale prices in the condo market also fell during the month of May, with Sonoma, Marin, and Solano counties seeing 2.84%, 6.67%, and 3.79% declines on a year-over-year basis.
North Bay inventories see a sharp decline
Last month, we saw a marked decrease in the amount of available inventory on the market. The number of active single-family home listings decreased by 10.74% on a year-over-year basis. However, the number of condo listings increased slightly, by just 1.46%. Although we saw an increase in the number of condos, there's less total inventory on the market right now than around this time last year. This can largely be attributed to the fact that there are fewer listings hitting the market, with new condo and single-family home listings decreasing by roughly 30% on a year-over-year basis. We also saw 4.89% fewer single-family homes sold in the month of May when compared to last year.
Listings are spending more and more time on the market
Yet again, we saw the average amount of time a listing is spending on the market tick up. On a year-over-year basis, single-family homes are spending 5 more days on the market in Sonoma County, and 2 more days on the market in Marin, Solano, and Napa Counties. Although we saw a sharp decrease in the amount of available inventory, listings still seem to be sitting on the market, which is an interesting phenomenon. However, if the inventory issues that we’re seeing now happen to persist, don’t be surprised if we start to see listings getting bought up a bit faster!
Solano County is the only seller’s market left standing
When determining whether a market is a buyers’ market or a sellers’ market, we look to the Months of Supply Inventory (MSI) metric. The state of California has historically averaged around three months of MSI, so any area with at or around three months of MSI is considered a balanced market. Any market that has lower than three months of MSI is considered a sellers’ market, whereas markets with more than three months of MSI are considered buyers’ markets.
With 2.5 months’ worth of inventory on the market, Solano County is the only area that’s still a sellers’ market within the North Bay. Marin is quite balanced, with exactly 3 months of inventory on the market. On the other hand, Sonoma and Napa Counties are buyers markets, with 3.5 and 7 months of supply on the market, respectively. Napa County in particular may present some particularly interesting buying opportunities for those who are in the market for a new home in that area!
