3. Napa, CA Median home list price: $823,900 Price drop: -6.7% The vast 2017 wildfires that tore through Napa and other swaths of California's lush wine country were the most deadly and destructive on record: 44 people were killed and over 8,000 homes and other buildings were destroyed across the region. A big part of that damage centered on beautiful Napa, so it's no surprise that the housing market there has stumbled a bit while other parts of the state continue to soar.
"In the immediate aftermath [of the blazes], the market slowed down," says Kristofer Chun, an associate broker at Kristofer Chun Real Estate, in Napa. The fires spooked insurers, making it harder to get mortgage insurance in the region, and made many would-be buyers a little skittish, he says.
The hardest-hit part of Napa was its northeast areas, including single-family, suburban homes near the renowned Silverado Country Club that were burnt to the foundations. Most of these homes were on the luxury side of the market and were priced between $1.5 million to $2.5 million.
"We are slowly seeing some of these burnt-out lots come on the market priced around $500,000," Chun says. That's a fraction of what they were valued at before the blazes, when there were homes still standing on them. But new regulations and codes based in the wake of the fires might make these lots unbuildable, he adds. This could depress prices even further, at least for a time.
A natural disaster will always lower property prices. It's only temporary. When the dust settles, buyers and speculators will swoop in to grab the bargains.
Odd, as Sonoma County which I believe had more houses destroyed saw an immediate spike in prices after the fires that really is just now starting to flatten (not drop) a bit. The inventory is quite low and over bids and quick sales of anything at or near market price are the rule.
It is true there are many lots for sale in the burned areas, particularly Santa Rosa, but there is already an extreme shortage of contractors and skilled workers and the rebuild is just barely getting going, unemployment at 2.5% which is essentially no unemployment. Quite a few people were under-insured so even with a chunk of money from insurance they are finding it impossible to rebuild and are selling or trying to sell their lots. Some have taken the insurance money and left the area. Permitting, particularly if you use the same foot print, has been expedited. Even so this rebuild will be a good 10 years or more to complete IMO.
That is not a price going down story? if people are paying 500k for lots that they don't know if they can build or not, that is still a lot of money? What do you do with a lot you can't build on?
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