Fair Oaks House Values Continue to Decrease

Those in the market to purchase a home in Fair Oaks may want to consider now the right time.

Earlier this week the Sacramento Association of Realtors released April home sales figures for the Fair Oaks area. According to the Association’s statistics the area saw the median resale price for a single-family home drop to $225,000 in April – down 17.4 percent from the same time one year ago.

With the exception of January when home values inexplicably increased 10 percent year-over-year to $227,500, there hasn’t been another month in at least eight months where there was another increase, leaving many wondering when home prices will finally hit bottom.

“Experts think it could be another five years before we see another turn around,” said Fair Oaks Keller Williams realtor, Elizabeth Reed-Yoakum. “I’ve been in this industry for 35 years and never seen a market with such a loss of equity.”

Yoakum explained how difficult it to predict these types of trends in the market.

“I don’t know that anyone can predict these types of things,” Reed-Yoakum said. “There are some people who say that they did predict it.”

According to a report by the Sacramento Bee, experts explain there are a number of factors that should be considered for Sacramento’s housing value decline, but zeroed in on three in particular, including a high unemployment rate, the volume of distressed properties on the market and the high percentage of government employees in Sacramento and ongoing budget negotiations turning many off to the notion of purchasing homes.

“This is not the time to sell unless you’re buying again,” Reed-Yoakum emphasized. “If you’re not buying again and just selling out, you’re selling at the bottom of the market.”

Yoakum explained that without a doubt homes in the Sacramento and Fair Oaks area are at the bottom of that market.

“If you’re buying at the bottom of the market it is the best time to do it.”