{"id":192657,"date":"2026-02-25T06:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/192657\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T06:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T06:30:20","slug":"four-county-sacramento-area-sees-steep-january-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/192657\/","title":{"rendered":"Four-county Sacramento area sees steep January decline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Home<\/p>\n

Home sales in the Sacramento area hit a steep decline in January in a slow start to the year, the California Association of Realtors said.<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Home sales in the Sacramento area hit a steep decline in January in a slow start to the year, the California Association of Realtors said.<\/p>\n

Sales of existing homes<\/a> in the four-county area in January fell by about a third compared to December, the association said.<\/p>\n

Across California, home sales retreated in January to their lowest level since May 2025 and home prices fell to a 23-month low.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter closing out 2025 on a strong note, California\u2019s housing market has started the new year on a softer footing, with both sales and prices coming in below last year\u2019s levels,\u201d said Tamara Suminski, president of the association.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, as mortgage rates ease toward recent lows and housing supply is expected to improve in the coming weeks, we anticipate momentum to build as the market heads into the spring homebuying season,\u201d Suminski said.<\/p>\n

Oscar Wei, deputy chief economist for the organization, said mortgage rate volatility and lingering economic uncertainty contributed to the slowdown.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know:<\/p>\n

\"A A SOLD sign is attached to a For Sale sign outside a home on Friday, May 21, 2021, in South Bend. Oscar Wei, deputy chief economist for the organization, said mortgage rate volatility and lingering economic uncertainty contributed to the slowdown. Tribune Photo\/ROBERT FRANKLIN Tribune Photo\/ROBERT FRANKLIN \/ What do the numbers show?<\/p>\n

Home sales in Sacramento County in January plunged 27.8% over December, an 8.8% drop compared to January 2025. Median home sale prices in Sacramento County remained even at $540,000 in January compared to January 2025, the association said.<\/p>\n

In Placer County, sales fell 31.6% over December\u2019s numbers. But it increased by 2.8% compared to January 2025, the association said. Median sale prices by 3.8% to $625,000 the same period.<\/p>\n

Home sales in El Dorado County dropped by 35.8% in January compared to December \u2014 showing a 7.5% decline since January 2025. The county saw median home sale prices rise 14.7% to $705,3308 from $615,000 in the same period.<\/p>\n

Sales in Yolo County remained steady since December, with a 10.9% increase compared to January 2025. And median home sale prices fell by 6.8% year-over-year to $559,300 from $600,000.<\/p>\n

What do the numbers mean?<\/p>\n

\u201cHome sales were down month-over-month and year-over-year partly because of mortgage rate volatility. But lingering economic uncertainty may have played a role as well,\u201d Wei said.<\/p>\n

But he said sales and prices should improve as the year moves along.<\/p>\n

What do buyers need to know?<\/p>\n

Lower interest rates and falling prices present opportunities for potential home buyers, Wei said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition, an increase in housing supply offers more choices for home buyers,\u201d he said. \u201cThose who are interested in buying and have the financial capability to do so should take advantage of the current market condition and get off the sideline.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do sellers need to know?<\/p>\n

\u201cSellers who are interested in putting their houses up on the market need to realize that buyers have more options to choose from compared to a few months ago,\u201d Wei said.<\/p>\n

Real estate professionals can help potential sellers adjust to a more balanced market, he said.<\/p>\n

\"A A ‘House For Sale’ sign is displayed on Aug. 30, 2023, in Los Angeles. According to data from the California Association of Realtors, sales of existing homes in the four-county area in January fell by about a third compared to December, the association said. Mario Tama TNS What do figures mean for 2026?<\/p>\n

Wei said he expects home sales to strengthen in February despite the slow start to 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith interest rates coming back to three-year low levels in January, we expect closed sales transactions in February \u2014 which opened in January \u2014 to improve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Prices also should rise as the home-buying season kicks off later in the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile interest rates may continue to fluctuate, they will likely remain below last year\u2019s level and could go down before the end of the year,\u201d Wei said. \u201cHousing affordability should improve slightly in the next 12 months, despite a mild increase in home prices in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan Levine, the association\u2019s chief economist, said in the release that the economy may be starting to stabilize, which also will boost home sales.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith pending home sales posting a solid gain last month, we anticipate a rebound in housing market activity in February,\u201d Levine said.<\/p>\n

Loading\u2026<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Don Sweeney<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Don Sweeney has been a newspaper reporter and editor in California for more than 35 years. He is a service reporter based at The Sacramento Bee.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Home sales in the Sacramento area hit a steep decline in January in a slow start to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":192658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[90216,90218,121,90217,123,90215,122,90219],"class_list":{"0":"post-192657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-january-housing-market","9":"tag-placer-county-sales","10":"tag-sacramento","11":"tag-sacramento-county-real-estate","12":"tag-sacramento-headlines","13":"tag-sacramento-home-sales","14":"tag-sacramento-news","15":"tag-yolo-county-prices"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=192657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/192657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=192657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=192657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=192657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}