Report: Sacramento Ranks High Among FHA Home Buyers

A new real estate report suggests the Sacramento area is one of the top markets in the country for first-time home buyers.

Data released today show nearly 22 percent of all buyers who purchased in 2015 used FHA loans. 

"And that was one of the top 10 in the country," says Daren Blomquist with research firm RealtyTrac, which released the data.

Nationwide FHA buyers accounted for about 16 percent of all U.S. sales last year.

Both first-time buyers and investors accounted for about the same percentage of Sacramento area sales. The data show 23 percent of home buyers in 2015 were all-cash buyers, while 22 percent were FHA buyers.

"Which is interesting because it's counter to - nationally we see 30 percent of all buyers are cash buyers whereas only about 16 percent are FHA buyers," says Blomquist. "So there's a much higher proportional percentage of FHA buyers in Sacramento than there are in many markets across the country."

Blomquist explains that FHA loans are typically used by first-time home buyers because they require a low down payment of about 3 percent.

"They could be first-time home buyers," says Blomquist. "Also they could be what we would call boomerang buyers who are coming back after losing a home to foreclosure previously so they don't really have any equity to bring to the table so they have a very low down-payment."

Blomquist says the share of FHA buyers in the Sacramento area has increased by six-percent in the past two-years.

On average - people in the Sacramento area who sold their homes last year sold for 33 percent more than what they bought if for. That's a lot higher than the national average of 11 percent. 

"The people who are selling their homes in Sacramento are actually selling it for more than they bought it for and a third more which is a very healthy gain on that investment in your home," says Blomquist. "That was the highest percentage gain for home sellers we've seen since going all the way back to 2006 in Sacramento County."

He says the median sales price in the Sacramento area continues to go up. In December of 2015 it was $307,000; an annual increase of eight percent. And it was the 46th consecutive month with a year-over-year increase in home prices.