Real Estate
Tighter Real Estate Market Means Fewer Napa Valley Homes Sold
And unlike the rest of the Bay Area, new construction isn't taking off in the Napa Valley.
The housing market continues to heat up in Napa Valley.
Home prices rose again in April and foreclosures are on the decline. However, one real estate indicator—the number of building permits being issued by cities—is not  on the upswing in Napa County.
The website DataQuick reports the median price for all types of dwellings in the Bay Area was above $500,000 for the first time since 2008. That’s a 17 percent increase since March and a 30 percent hike from a year ago.
In Napa County, the median sale price is now $385,000, a 21.3 percent increase from April 2012.
In the city of Napa, the median sales price in March increased in all over town:Â
- The median sales price in zip code 94558 was $370,000, a 12.5Â percent increase from a year ago.
- In zip code 94559, the median sales price topped $407,000, a 29.1 percent increase.
- The median sales price in zip code 95033 was $520,000, a 14.8 percent decrease from a year ago.
In St. Helena, the median sales price in March was $745,000, a 30 percent decrease from a year ago.
The median sale price in Calistoga topped $260,000—a 51.3 percent decrease—while it hit $652,500 in Yountville, a rise of 16.5 percent. In American Canyon, median home prices increased 29.5 percent to $362,500.
Due to a lack of inventory, home sales have declined  slightly—0.6 percent—in the nine-county Bay Area. But in Napa County, home sales rose 13.3 percent.Â
In the city of Napa, there were 81 homes sold in March. Sales in zip code 94558 grew 8.3 percent from March 2012, while they fell 44.8 percent in zip code 94559.
Twenty homes sold in American Canyon in March, a 31 percent decrease from the same time last year. In Calistoga, three homes sold and four in Yountville—both towns recording no change from 2012. Eleven homes were sold in St. Helena, a whopping 450 percent increase from March 2012.Â
Meanwhile, RealtyTrac reports the number of single-family building permits nationwide increased 27 percent in the first quarter of 2013 to the highest level since 2008.
At the same, the number of foreclosure starts nationwide declined 27 percent to their lowest level since 2006.
In fact, the number of building permits issued and foreclosure starts were roughly the same for the first time since 2007.
But new construction has been sluggish in the Napa Valley. In Napa, two building permit were issued during the first three months of this year, compared to 27 during the same time period last year. American Canyon, the only other Napa County town with data available, had no building permits during the first quarter this year. Nine were approved during that time period in 2012.
Foreclosures are on the decline in the area, though. There were 29 foreclosure starts in Napa, compared to 119 in the first quarter of 2012. American Canyon recorded 15 foreclosure starts, down from 37 during the same time frame last year
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