Median Napa home prices for the first 2 months of this year have fallen in price by 9.5% from last years average median price. This is a big drop in values in an already suffering housing market, and this trend could go on for months. Sales figures are similar to last year’s numbers and are expected to remain soft for most of the year.

Let’s break down the market segments here and examine the market, looking at Napa Foreclosure Sales, Short Sales and Traditional Sales. By examining this categories we can see the impact of troubled or distressed homes has on the market and what trends are likely to continue.

I am going to break down the market between American Canyon and Napa, the sub categories of foreclosures, short sales and traditional sales. So let’s take a look at the March 2011 real estate sales for:

American Canyon Home Sales for March 2011

American Canyon Home Sold in March 2011

There were 29 Home sales in American Canyon with prices starting at $105,000 through $480,000 with the majority of all sales under $200,000. Out of these sales 22 or 75% were distressed properties, either Short Sales or Foreclosures. The remaining 7 sales were 3 traditional sales and 4 Builder Direct Sales.

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Napa Home Sales for March 2011

Napa Home Sold in March 2011

Napa had 72 home sales in March 2011 ranging in price from $152,000 to $2,850,000. Of these sales 44 were distressed properties being either Short Sales or Foreclosures, or 61% of all sales. The remaining 28 sales were standard sales.

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So what does all this mean? To begin with the downward pressure of values due to distressed properties will continue until the distressed properties work their way through the markets. At present the amount of Short Sales is still over 50% of the distressed sales and there still are more short sales to come. I don’t believe we can see a bottom of the Napa housing market until the total amount of distressed homes is well below 25%. The optimist in me hopes this is the year the prices bottom out and the pessimist in me says maybe late 2012 we hit bottom.

This is not important to buyers who intend to live in these homes for 5 years or more and still don’t forget there are tax advantages too. The window of opportunity for Napa real estate purchases is now open.

American Canyon city info

Napa City info

Napa County info