Sacramento-Region New Homes Show Record-Breaking Sales
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — There's been a record-breaking surge of new home sales in the Sacramento region. The demand is so high builders say we could be looking at a housing shortage.
"The numbers that we are seeing now is often what we see in the summer months," said Michael Strech, President and CEO of Building Industry Association.
Home sales are no longer taking seasonal hits in the fall and winter. Pent up demand from a rocky first quarter with COVID-19 is helping the housing market bounce back, according to the Building Industry Association.
"Regardless of the seasonality there is tremendous demand across the board," Strech said.
October new-home sales are the highest on record. Last year, 473 homes were sold compared to 730 this year. That's a 54 percent increase from last October.
"People live and work in the same setting and as a result of that, they really want to live in a new home," Strech explained.
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The last time the six-county region saw numbers come anywhere close to current totals of near 6,000 homes sold was pre-recession back in 2006. Thousands of new homes are planned across the Sacramento region from Rancho Cordova to Folsom and Natomas, but experts say it's not driving buyers away from older homes.
"The demand so strong right now we really need even more homes built because it's such a competitive market out there," explained Housing Appraiser and Market Analyst Ryan Lundquist.
Lundquist says homes across the region, on average, sell in less than a week.
"It's really created a lot of demand for the market where buyers are jumping off the fence to try to take advantage of these low rates," he explained.
New and old homes at reasonable price points are making competition hard to beat out.
"It's a market where I think stuff is flying off the shelves," said Lundquist. "It's tough on buyers right now because there are bidding wars."
Strech believes the Sacramento region and beyond could face a housing crisis if too few homes are built in the coming decades.
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