Report shows strong new home sales for Sacramento region

Robert Summa, Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Calif.
Updated ·2 min read

Oct. 11—New home sales in the Sacramento region continue to outpace monthly averages, according to a report released by the North State Building Industry Association on Wednesday.

While the region as a whole saw increased sales in September, Sutter County again severely lagged behind other surrounding counties with zero new home sales reported. Yuba County builders reported 20 new homes sales for the month.

Of the 20 new homes sold in Yuba County last month, the community of Plumas Lake made up the bulk of those sales with 16 reported. In August, Yuba County builders reported 32 new home sales while Sutter County builders reported three new home sales.

Reports from the North State Building Industry Association cover 182 "active new home communities" in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, Yuba, Sutter, Amador and Nevada counties.

In total, association builders reported 485 sales during September, a number that is considered "well above average." Specifically, the number of sales are 24% above the average September sales figure of 392 and 75% above the 279 sales reported in September 2022, the association said.

Chris Norem, North State Building Industry Association's political director and senior policy advisor, stressed that area governments need to speed up the approval process for new homes and reduce fees that can average more than $100,000 per home in order to encourage more growth.

"As interest rates have skyrocketed, builders in some parts of the country have been able to pivot and build smaller, less-expensive homes for younger families," Norem said in a statement. "In California, due to the stringent regulations, the lack of enough zoned land to meet demand and, of course, the high fees, our members don't have that option. The reason that housing is so expensive in Sacramento and the rest of California is that for decades constraints placed on homebuilding have prevented builders from meeting the ongoing demand. To cure the housing crisis, the answer is for local governments to work in partnership with the private sector to spur housing supply so it can catch up with demand."

Sacramento County builders reported the highest number of new homes sales in September with 242. Placer County was second with 183 new homes reported to be sold.

Roseville continued to report the most amount of new homes sales for communities in the region with 135 sold.