Sacramento To Be One Of The Country's Hottest Housing Markets In 2016?
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - There's a forecasted boom in the Sacramento housing market. The Sacramento region is being named as one the top 10 hottest real estate markets for 2016.
What can home buyers and sellers expect next year? Realtors say they had a very busy 2015 and now say it's a great time to buy. And despite this being a holiday week, they say houses get sold every day of the year."
Sacramento may be experiencing a renaissance with the construction of the new Kings arena. Its suburbs are filling up.
Places like Roseville offer attractive newer homes a short drive from Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.
Realtors say the market had a boost from low interest rates. Home sales are up more than 10 percent from last year. It's a dramatically different market from four years ago. Foreclosures have almost disappeared in some neighborhoods and realtors are dealing more with traditional sales.
"As interest rates start to inch up, buyers start thinking, 'Oh man, I better get it now,' because they don't want to wait," said Remax Gold realtor Chuck Klein.
The average four-bedroom home in Roseville sells in the mid $400,000 range. Realtors say homes priced in the $300,000 range will only be on the market a week or two.
But finding a home will be hard for potential buyers since there are 20 percent fewer homes for sale than last year.
Real estate appraiser Ryan Lundquist is more skeptical of a hot real estate market in the Sacramento region.
"There's a lot of articles that have spin or that just promote some random factoid or stat and say 'This is going to be the hottest thing ever," he said.
He believes homes will just have a normal uptick in sales. He says affordability is becoming an issue and interest rates will start increasing in 2016.
"When you begin to mess with that steroid, then there has to be something else that's driving the market. That's why I'd say it's got to be the job market," he said.
Some agents believe rising interest rates may light a fire under some buyers.
"Buyers start thinking, 'Oh man, I better get it now.' So, they don't want to wait," he said.
The realtor and appraiser agree buyers are pickier than before. Many have the Internet tools they need to read up and study the market.
