It was no surprise the number of homes in the four county Sacramento area increased during the month of March from what we experienced in February. It was also not hard to predict that the number of homes sold in March would be less than a year ago. According to DataQuick, the overall the sales volume in the four county area increased 29% from February to 3,285 but even with the increase the number was 29.5% lower than last March. El Dorado led the way with a volume increase of almost 60%.

According to a recent article in the Sacramento Bee, "New signs of cooling housing market," the median sale prices in the four county area, "posted their third straight monthly gains in all but Yolo County." Prices fell to $410,000 from February's $421,500 in Yolo County which remains below its November peak of $436,500. The article goes on to point out the March median sales prices remain below highs reached last year in all the counties. Sacramento County had a median sales price of $359,000, up for the third straight month. El Dorado and Placer counties also had median prices up for the third consecutive month to $455,000 and $477,000 respectively.

Another indicator for March, available homes on the market, or inventory, continued to grow in the area. At the end of March, according to TrendGraphix, the inventory has reached 10,316 which is a whopping increase from the 3,799 reported last March. Housing Tracker, which has its own view of the Sacramento area posted inventory on April 1 as 8,103, up 440 for the month. Their latest weekly update, as of April 21st, shows the same area with 8,489 homes available so the trend or more houses coming on the market than selling is continuing.

In some of the local areas, where I have been working recently, the median price increases from last were positive, with the exception of Granite Bay.

In the three zip codes that make up Roseville (95661, 95678 and 95747) we saw volume increase across the board with zip code 95747 leading the way with 55 sales and an increase of 44.7 percent over February. In terms of median price again all three zip codes in Roseville saw increases from the previous month and from March of 2005. In 95661 the median price of $469,250 was up 2.29 percent from February and 2.2 percent over March 2005. In 95678 the median price increased 3.23 percent from February to $407,750. This represents an annual increase of 7.5 percent. In 95747 the median sales price for March was $487,000 up 13.45 percent from February and 14.6 percent from a year ago.

Please note that when looking at these smaller areas, the numbers can change dramatically from month to month because of the lower volumes and the impact one or two sales can have.

In the Rocklin zip codes, we saw volume drop by almost 18 percent in 95677 from February to 23 sales. This is also down over 32 percent from last year. In the other Rocklin zip code the volume was up by 3 sales over February to 35 sales but that number is down 56 percent from March 2005. In both zip codes we saw a drop in median price from February but up from the previous year. In 95677 the March median price of $390,954 was down from an artificially high number in Feb and down from January but slightly higher than last year (.05%). Zip code 95765 reported a median price of $505,000 down 4.7 percent from February's number but 7.5 percent higher than March 2005.

Lincoln, 95648 had dramatic growth in volume and the median sale price, proving this is one of the hottest communities in the county. Sales volume increased 53% to 69 sales with a median sales price of $439,000. The price increase month-over-month was 7 percent. For the year the median price paid for a home in Lincoln increased 10.7 percent.

Granite Bay, zip code 95746, volume was way up from only 11 sales in February to 37 homes sold in March. This is still 12 percent below what happened last March. The median price for March in Granite Bay was $780,250, up 7percent from last month, but like volume is below March 2005.

Finally, El Dorado Hills, 95762, sales volume was up 77 percent to 46 homes sold with a median price of $625,000 which is up 3 percent from February results and 5.9 percent from March 2005.

Over all March results in the above areas was much better than I would have predicted, especially with all the rain we had. Volumes increased more than I thought, and it is clear we are seeing some price stability and even increases. The average number of days on the market to sale is continuing to grow but with most of the rain behind us, spring break over and warm weather on the horizon I am predicting increased volume for April, continued growth in the median sales price and although inventory will continue to grow I feel it will slow during the last week of April.

Julie Jalone is an experienced professional Realtor serving buyers and sellers of residential real estate in the Greater Sacramento area including Placer, El Dorado, Yolo and Yuba counties. Some of the communities served by Julie include Sacramento, Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln and Granite Bay. Julie's husband, Michael, now retired from a successful career in banking and the Internet Service Provider industries, assists Julie with her real estate business including marketing and client communications. To learn more about Julie and Michael, take a look at their website, jalone.com, where you will find additional articles, monthly market analysis and Julie's daily blog, "Keep it Real in Sacramento."