Within metro Santa Rosa, January’s sales data indicates a marketplace gaining momentum, North Bay Real Estate Insider Jeff Schween writes.
The early wet winter has dampened our landscape but not the real estate marketplace. Early sprouts of more enthusiasm from buyers to get what they want this year are showing their signs throughout the region.
Within the metropolis of Santa Rosa, according to BAREIS MLS, January’s data indicates a marketplace gaining momentum – even though it is early in the year. Sellers debuted 126 new single-family homes – 26% greater than last year and the first time in three years that monthly new listings are higher than they were the year before in the greater Santa Rosa metro region. Home seekers laid claim to 98 dwellings in the first month of 2025 – 14% greater than last year at this same time – while sellers handed over keys on 68 completed sales – 3% ahead of last year.
Santa Rosa recorded a Months’ Supply of Inventory (MSI) level of 3.2 – a number that spiked upwards for the period, though with indications that this will drop significantly again when February sales are counted.
MSI is the metric that indicates the number of months it would take to sell the current inventory at the current rate of sales. An MSI ranging from 4 to 6 is indicative of a balanced market, with lower numbers increasingly favoring sellers and vice versa.
Here is how various segments of the Santa Rosa market performed:
Northeast Santa Rosa
Northeast Santa Rosa – the North Bay’s broadest submarket – saw the introduction of 40 new single-family homes last month – 23% fewer than this same period a year ago. The supply of homes was met with similar demands to last year at this time as there were also 75 dwellings for house hunters to consider as February got underway. Buyers managed to absorb 27 homes into new contracts – 15% behind last year – with sellers receiving closing checks on another 24 properties – 4% less than a year earlier, highlighting an MSI of 3.1. Keep in mind that in this submarket some of the new listings posted are offerings for homes under construction, which adds some unrealistic carryover inventory to what is actually available to purchase now, unlike most other sub-markets throughout Sonoma County.
Southeast Santa Rosa
Southeast Santa Rosa saw the supply of listed properties rest at 33 as February opened – 52% greater than just a year earlier. This submarket saw the launch of 16 new listings in January – 20% fewer than last year’s figures – while buyers garnered accepted offers on 16 additional dwellings – 7% ahead of where pending contracts were in 2024. Sellers experienced 11 closings in the period resulting in MSI of 3.
Oakmont
Oakmont, which has experienced exacerbated demands from buyers steadily throughout last year, found sellers coming to the table with 9 new offerings in January – on par with last year. Buyers contracted to purchase 14 homes – 100% more than a year earlier – while property owners received closing checks on just four sales leaving this region with 23 available homes for buyers to pursue in February along with an MSI that jumped to 5.8 – with the amount of new pending’s in the pipeline this reading is forecasted to fall dramatically in February.
Northwest Santa Rosa
Northwest Santa Rosa was the land of more of everything in January. Buyers advanced to control 26 more deals while leaving 55 single-family homes available for sale at the beginning of February. Sellers committed 39 new offerings to the market – an astonishing 200% more than the same period a year ago – while 22 additional homes crossed the finish line, causing MSI to rise a bit to 2.5.
Southwest Santa Rosa
Southwest Santa Rosa’s activity kept moving along as consumers placed 15 properties into contract during the period – just as sellers handed over the keys to seven new homeowners – leaving 34 homes for buyers to view at the outset of this month along with an MSI of 4.9.
Even with a spike in MSI in some quadrants of our metro Santa Rosa market in January, the underlying data indicates that these are blips on the radar and more a result of winter slumber. The forward-looking metrics tell us that we will see MSI fall sharply in the ensuing months. And this vibe is also felt in the trenches by practitioners in our city – all anticipating after two historically low-volume years that 2025 will show a market bustling with both more available homes, as well as buyers to match up with each offering – in some cases more than one buyer.
Jeff Schween, a “top 1% Realtor at Compass,” provides market insights for The Press Democrat in this weekly column. You can reach him through his website at SantaRosaFineHomes.com.
