Lower mortgage rates are widely anticipated to release a surge in pent-up demand for homes. Average fixed 30-year mortgage rates, peaking at 7.8% last October,have fallen by more than 100 basis points and early indications point to the 2024 housing market slowly unfreezing.

“Concerned homeowners who have been thinking of selling have largely delayed listing their homes until they are able to secure a more favorable interest rate on anew loan for their replacement property,” Timo says. “But there have been manywho need to sell or are able to sell for various reasons and those properties have kept the market tight but fairly buoyant in the Petaluma area over the past year.”

Timo expects to see more properties on the market in 2024 as the mortgage rates decline closer to 6%. There is an assumption that new mortgages are more likely to be refinanced within a few years as rates fall, even though rates dropping below 6%might not reasonably happen until sometime in 2025.

“The supply lull is not likely to go away in the Petaluma area this year as demand by far outstrips home availability. This puts sellers in a good position in 2024 and specific buyers, who must be serious to be in the market, are still hungry to secure the right home.”

Whereas Petaluma’s average home value is currently $884,924, up 2% over the previous year, Sonoma County’s Median Sold Price in December 2023 was$798,620, representing a 1.2% increase over 2022. The average county wide saletime in December last year was just 19 days, compared to 34 days in December 2022. Homes sell faster in Petaluma, averaging just 16 days, currently.

The average home in West Petaluma is valued at $1,038,538 this new year. That represents a 1.9% increase over the previous year.

“Waiting for home prices to drop in Petaluma does not appear to be a wise strategy,” says Timo. Compared to home prices in neighboring Marin County,Petaluma prices are extremely competitive. “There’s only so many pieces of the pie when it comes to securing a home in Petaluma,” says Timo. If you or someone you know would like to buy or sell in the area in 2024, the Rivetti Team is ready to launch into action.