Real Estate: What can $450k buy you in Citrus Heights?

By Mike Hazlip—
The hot housing market is continuing into 2022 and the average home price in Citrus Heights now edging north of $450,000.

So what can $450k buy you? The answer is not much, according to Cara Richey, a broker at Next Home Millennium in Citrus Heights.

“When a buyer tells me they want to purchase in Citrus Heights under $450,000, I immediately think of two words: limited and compromise,“ Richey said in an email to The Sentinel on Saturday. “Meaning, the buyer will be very limited as to how many homes are even available in that price range and should be prepared to ‘compromise’ on their ‘must have’ checklist in a home.”

She said options for a single-family detached residential home in Citrus Heights in the mid $400,000 range shrunk when prices soared last year, although condos are still available for under that price.

Richey is seeing fewer homes on the market overall, but said she still sees multiple offers on homes. The decreased inventory may be partially due to the typical slump in the housing market during winter months, but Richey says fewer people are willing to sell.

“Our lack of inventory is certainly concerning,” she said. “I have found that many of (my) clients who purchased years ago are turning to refinances to tap into their equity in lieu of listing because they don’t feel confident in being able to obtain a replacement property due to demand and pricing.”

According to Realtor.com, the median listing price for a home in Citrus Heights is $456,000, but the site includes condos and mobile homes in their data. Almost 200 homes are currently shown on the market in Citrus Heights, with prices ranging between $47,900 for a mobile home on Sunrise Boulevard to $1 million for a 2,000-square-foot home on 3 acres of land.

A search of popular real estate website Zillow turned up just 11 single-family detached home listings with a price of $450,000 or lower in Citrus Heights. A search for the same type of home over the $450,000 price point shows 41 listings.

Ryan Lundquist of Sacramento-based Lundquist Appraisal Company told The Sentinel in an email Friday that the average single-family detached home price in Citrus Heights is closer to $475,000, when excluding mobile homes.

“Citrus Heights saw about 20% price growth last year, which is of course massive, but that’s about the same as the rest of the region and the county as a whole,” Lundquist said. “Thus price growth is an all ships rise with the tide situation where Citrus Heights basically fits in well with the trend everywhere else.”

More cash buyers are also a factor in the market, according to data Lundquist shared with The Sentinel. VA financing and FHA financing are down 25% and 31%, respectively, while conventional financing is up 10% for the same time period. Cash sales are up more than 37% from 2020 to 2021, according to the data.

“On the positive side Citrus Heights had more FHA and VA financing compared to Sacramento County and the region as a whole,” he said. “This is due to Citrus Heights being a more affordable price range. The especially positive aspect here is first-time buyers are buying homes and calling Citrus Heights home.”