Sacramento, CA Housing Market
AI-powered market intelligence for the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro area.
PropertyIQ Scores
Sacramento, CA Market Analysis
Market Overview
Sacramento’s PropertyIQ Score of 25 out of 100 places the market in weak territory overall. That score is most influenced by home value momentum, market time, and discounting: 12-month home value momentum is 0.59%, 3-month home value momentum is -1.36%, the median days on market is 50, and 22.3% of listings have a price cut. Against California benchmarks, Sacramento’s median home value of $574,820 is roughly $189,000 below the state average of $764,158. Median household income is $97,188, only about $1,934 below the state average of $99,122. That combination means local home prices are lower relative to incomes than the state average, but the market is still soft by momentum and selling conditions.
Sacramento’s rent index is $2,282, above the state average of $2,036, while unemployment is 5.0%, slightly better than the state’s 5.1%. Home value year over year is -$1, essentially flat. There are 5,286 homes for sale. Population growth is not available in the provided data, so migration or household formation trends cannot be assessed. Overall, the score and drivers describe a weak market with some affordability offsets relative to California, but not enough to offset weak recent price momentum.
Key Trends
First, recent price momentum has turned negative. The 12-month home value momentum is 0.59%, which is almost flat growth, and the year-over-year home value change is -$1. But the 3-month momentum is -1.36%, indicating that price movement has weakened in the most recent quarter. This recent decline is one of the top score drivers in the 25/100 score.
Second, selling conditions have softened. The median days on market is 50 days, and 22.3% of listings have a price cut. These figures suggest sellers are waiting longer and adjusting prices more often to attract buyers. With 5,286 homes for sale, the supply level adds to the softer selling environment. The data does not include state benchmarks for days on market, price cuts, or inventory, so direct comparison on these points is not possible.
Third, Sacramento is relatively more affordable than the state average on home prices, but not on rents. The median home value is $574,820 compared with California’s $764,158, while median household income is only slightly below the state average. However, the rent index of $2,282 is above the state average of $2,036. This split means buyers are looking at lower purchase prices relative to state norms, while renters face above-average rent levels.
Fourth, the labor market is a modest positive. Sacramento’s unemployment rate is 5.0%, slightly below the state average of 5.1%. That small edge may support housing demand, but the negative 3-month price momentum and missing population growth data limit the strength of that signal.
Who Is This Market For
This market is most suited to buyers who can be patient and negotiate. The 22.3% share of listings with price cuts and the 50-day median days on market indicate that buyers may have more leverage than in a strong seller’s market. First-time buyers may find Sacramento’s median home value of $574,820 more approachable than California’s $764,158 average, especially because median household income is nearly equal to the state average. However, the median home value is still high in absolute terms, so affordability depends on individual household finances.
Rental property investors may also see a potential opportunity. The rent index is $2,282, above the state average of $2,036, while the median home value is significantly below the state average. That combination can point to a more favorable rent-to-home-price relationship than the state average, though the data does not include operating costs or rental vacancy rates. Move-up buyers face a trade-off: they may gain negotiating power as buyers, but may also need to price their current home competitively given the high share of price cuts and 50-day market time. Short-term flippers and sellers seeking quick appreciation are less supported by the 3-month momentum of -1.36% and the low PropertyIQ Score.
Outlook
The current data supports a cautious near-term outlook. The 3-month home value momentum of -1.36%, the flat year-over-year value change of -$1, and the 22.3% share of listings with price cuts point toward continued softness or flat price movement in the near term. With 5,286 homes for sale and a median days on market of 50, buyers are likely to maintain negotiating power. On the other hand, unemployment at 5.0% is slightly better than the state average, and the median home value is well below the California benchmark, which may keep some demand in the market. Population growth is not available in the dataset, so the longer-term demand picture remains incomplete. Overall, the data suggests a soft market with limited momentum unless the recent negative 3-month price trend reverses.
AI-generated analysis based on current market data. Last updated September 30, 2026.
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Sacramento, CA market data
Sacramento, CA Housing Market Overview
Sacramento, CA's median home value is $575K, up 0.6% over the past year. Homes here sell in a median 50 days. Its PropertyIQ Score of 25 sits below the state average of 50, marking a market positioned to lag its state over the next three years.
PropertyIQ tracks the Sacramento, CA housing market through two complementary lenses: price momentum from Zillow home-value trends over 3 and 12 months, and demand pressure from how quickly homes sell and how often sellers cut prices, drawn from Realtor.com. The PropertyIQ Score distills these into one number that predicts how this CA market is set to perform against its state benchmark.
Pacific Coast housing markets feature the nation's highest price points alongside strong wage growth from technology, entertainment, and trade sectors. Supply constraints from geographic barriers and regulatory environments create persistent affordability challenges but also strong long-term appreciation potential. Within the Pacific, Sacramento, CA's PropertyIQ Score of 25 runs below the Pacific norm.
California's housing market is defined by extreme supply-demand imbalance, with CEQA regulations and geographic constraints limiting new construction. Despite affordability challenges, strong wage growth in tech and entertainment sectors sustains prices.
For the Sacramento, CA market, PropertyIQ calculates a single score each month from four inputs: twelve-month Zillow home-value momentum, three-month Zillow home-value momentum, median days on market from Realtor.com, and the Realtor.com price-reduced share. The score is computed nationally across all metros and calibrated so 50 equals the state average. Across the validation history, metro markets in the top score band have outperformed their state by roughly 1.7 percentage points more per year than bottom-band markets. Momentum here has been positive, with home values up 0.6% over the past year.
Use PropertyIQ's interactive analytics to compare Sacramento, CA against any other US metro on its PropertyIQ Score and underlying metrics. Generate a free AI market report, explore historical trends on the graphs page, or see how this market ranks on the scores dashboard.
Counties in the Sacramento, CA metro area
ZIP codes in the Sacramento, CA metro area
View all 115 →Market data through August 2026. Sourced from Zillow, Realtor.com, Redfin, U.S. Census Bureau, FRED, BLS, and BEA. Per-statistic source and date shown above.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Sacramento, CA a good place to buy real estate in 2026?
PropertyIQ doesn't label markets simply good or bad. Instead, the PropertyIQ Score measures a market's demand momentum against its own state, where 50 marks the state average. Sacramento, CA currently scores 25, a weak-momentum reading that leaves it positioned to lag its state over the next three years. For buyers, cooling demand usually brings more inventory, longer sale times, and real leverage to negotiate on price. Backing that up, the median home value here is $575K, up 0.6% over the past year. So whether Sacramento, CA is right for you comes down to your goals: a rising-momentum market can favor long-term appreciation but offers less room to negotiate, while a cooling one hands buyers more leverage. Treat the score as a timing signal to weigh alongside your budget, holding period, and plans for the property, not a verdict on the market's quality.
What is the PropertyIQ Score for Sacramento, CA?
Sacramento, CA's PropertyIQ Score is 25, indicating weak momentum on a 1-to-99 scale. The score distills four transparent inputs into a single number: Zillow home-value momentum over the past 12 months, Zillow home-value momentum over the past 3 months, the median days homes spend on the market from Realtor.com, and the share of listings with a price cut, also from Realtor.com. Rising values and faster sales push the score up, while slow sales and frequent price cuts pull it down. The scale is calibrated so 50 equals the state average, meaning a score above 50 predicts the market will outperform its state over the next three years and a score below 50 predicts underperformance. PropertyIQ computes the score across every US market nationally, then recenters it against each state, so 25 places Sacramento, CA below its state benchmark.
Are home prices in Sacramento, CA rising or falling?
Home prices in Sacramento, CA are rising. Over the past year, the median home value increased 0.6%, reaching $575K. Over the latest three months, values slipped 1.4%, a sign near-term demand is softening. PropertyIQ derives these figures from Zillow's home-value index, which tracks the typical value across the market rather than only the homes that happened to sell, giving a steadier read than a raw median sale price. Both the 12-month and 3-month momentum readings feed directly into the PropertyIQ Score, so this price trend is one of the core signals behind Sacramento, CA's current score. Keep in mind that appreciation can vary widely by neighborhood and price tier across the metro area, so treat these figures as the market-wide baseline rather than a guarantee for any single property.
How quickly do homes sell in Sacramento, CA?
In Sacramento, CA, homes sell in a median of 50 days from listing to pending sale, based on Realtor.com market data. Median days on market is one of the clearest real-time reads on local demand: when homes move quickly, buyers are competing and sellers hold the advantage, while lengthening timelines signal cooling interest and more room to negotiate. Alongside sale speed, about 22% of active listings here have taken at least one price cut — a complementary demand gauge, since a rising share of reductions often precedes slower sales and softer prices. Both median days on market and the price-cut share feed directly into the PropertyIQ Score, where faster sales and fewer cuts push the score higher. As a general guide, medians under about 30 days indicate a brisk, competitive market, while medians well beyond 60 days point to buyers regaining leverage. Actual time on market still varies by price band, property type, and season, so treat the median as a market-wide baseline.
How current is this metro area data?
This Sacramento, CA market data is refreshed on a monthly cycle, with the latest figures current through August 2026. PropertyIQ ingests fresh data every month from a range of authoritative sources: home values and rents from Zillow, days on market and price-cut activity from Realtor.com, additional housing signals from Redfin, demographic and housing-stock data from the U.S. Census Bureau, mortgage and macroeconomic series from FRED, and employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The PropertyIQ Score itself is recomputed every month once the new source data lands, so the score and its four underlying inputs always reflect the most recent complete reporting period rather than a static snapshot. Because official housing data is typically released with a short lag, the current-through date usually trails the present by a few weeks, which is normal across the industry and not a sign the data is out of date.