Buyers in Sacramento County's hot but tight home sales market saw prices jump last month to the highest levels since the big bubble years in the mid-2000s.
The median price has now risen every month in the last six years, hitting $357,000 in April, according to CoreLogic, a real estate data company. That's 12 percent higher than the $317,000 median sales price a year ago.
El Dorado County had the highest median sales price in the region, at $486,000. Placer's median home price in April was $482,000. Both were up substantially over the past year. Yolo County's median price took a big leap too, to $467,000.
But, comparatively speaking, the local prices remain bargain basement compared to San Francisco, where the median price for a house topped $1.3 million in April. In the Bay Area as a whole, the median was $850,000.
Despite 72 straight months of increases, Sacramento County's median is still below the all-time high of $360,000 back in 2006, in the bubble days before the housing price collapse. This April's number is substantially lower, in fact, than that 2006 median price when counting for inflation, which would cost $442,000 today.
New home sales rose 20 percent during the first four months of the year in Sacramento County compared to the same months last year, a reflection of pent-up demand stemming from nearly a decade when very few new homes were built.
However, sales of existing detached houses rose less than 1 percent, suggesting few homeowners are putting their places on the market this year.
This story was originally published May 25, 2018 12:34 PM.