Newcastle Land - 9-13-06 to 12-13-06 Statistics

There were 5 Newcastle land sales in Metrolist MLS during the 3 month period of 9/13/06 to 12/13/06. This is up from 3 sold during the same period in 2005 and 2 sold during the preceding 3 month period. Due to the lack of total sales, I will not be providing average and median sales statistics, as they would not be statistically significant with that few data points. Of the 5 properties sold, 4 were on Dillon Circle @ Indian Ridge. These properties ranged from 2.3 to 5 acres, sold for between $377,500 and $517,000 and accepted offers from $42,000 to $58,000 below their asking price. The fifth and final lot sold was a 10 acre lot in Ophir, which had an asking price of $725,000, but sold for $655,000.

As of 12/14/06, there are currently 2 Newcastle lots in escrow. One lot is a 1.1 acre lot on Fowler Road, which was listed for $299,500, the other lot is a 9.7 acre lot on Fruitvale Road, that was listed for $399,900.

Currently there are 16 Newcastle land listings for sale. The average asking price is $624,025 and the median asking price is $499,250. The cheapest Newcastle land for sale is a 2.6 acre lot on Azores Lane for $349,000. The most expensive Newcastle lot for sale is a 20.7 acre lot, with a tentative 4-way split, on Indian Hill Road, for $1,780,000. To see these lots, along with all other Newcastle land for sale, please visit www.PlacerCountyHomesandLand.com.

With an inventory of 16 Newcastle lots for sale and an average of 1.66 lots sold per month, over the past 3 months, the current inventory is somewhere around 9.6 months of Newcastle land for sale. This means that at the current sales pace, it would take 9.6 months to sell all of the lots currently listed, if no additional lots were added to the inventory. Typically an inventory of 5 months or more is considered a buyer's market.

In a buyer's market, buyers typically have numerous options available to them and therefore have a better negotiating position than the seller, if they are willing to move on to another property when they don't get their terms. On the other side of the coin, there are fewer buyers than there are properties for sale, so sellers must be flexible on sale terms and take the time to properly prepare a property for sale. If a seller wants to sell their property in this type of market, they must take the time to clear the property of brush, define a building pad, perform well and septic tests, provide an accessible entry and exit to the property, answer any questions regarding easements and title issues, identify the property corners and most of all, a seller must price the property ahead of the most recent comparable sales. If you chase the price in a falling market, you may not catch it until it hits bottom.