2010 1st Quarter Market Summary for Tahoe Real Estate Sales

The 2010 1st Quarter Stats are out! Here is the most recent response to the popular question – “How’s the market?” The graphs below show the numbers. The first quarter of 2010 has started out with some positive numbers and good signs of growth in real estate sales for the Truckee/Tahoe area. There have been significant increases in the numbers of home sales throughout the area for this quarter (January 1 – March 31) compared to the same dates for 2009.

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The first graph shows sales volume for single family homes and condos sold from January 1 – March 31 in 2009 compared to 2010. This year saw a 22% increase for single family home sales volume from last year. Sales volume for condos increased by 174% from last year. Single family home sales volume in 2009 was $94,659,052 and $115,263,815 in 2010.

The next graph compares median & average price in 2009 and 2010. Both the median and average sales prices decreased by 29% in 2010 for single family homes. The median sales price for condos decreased by 20% and the average price increased by 21%.

The third graph compares units sold in 2010 compared to 2009. There was a 50% increase in the numer of single family home sales in 2010 for properties under $1 mil. There was a 71% increase for properties over $1 mil. For condos under $500K, there was a 119% increase in 2010 and a 400% increase for condos over $500K.

Our broker, Sue Lowe believes the higher number of home sales is due to the increased number of short sales and bank-owned properties, federal tax credits for first time home buyers, as well as investors coming back to the market. Lowe states, “There is a significant amount of activity in the lower-end of the market. The abundance of short sales and bank-owned properties is creating some once-in-a-lifetime deals. Combine that with tax credits and we’re seeing homes move quickly. That inventory is dropping at an impressive rate compared to what we had a year ago.”

The Reno/Tahoe market seems to be following the same trend as the national real estate market. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently stated that the number of pending homes has gone up more than expected (8.2% in February) in response to the homebuyer tax credit. NAR Chief Economist, Larry Yun said the improvement is another hopeful sign. “The rise in buyer contact activity may signal the early stages of a second surge of home sales this spring. The healthy gain hints home prices are continuing to flatten,” he said. “We need a second surge to meaningfully draw down inventory and definitively stabilize home values.” Click on the link to read the NAR article.

Lowe acknowledges that home prices are slow to recover due to the amount of short sales and bank-owned property deals. “Those deals have been making up a good part of the market, but they’ve also been driving down home prices. I believe that the market will continue to correct itself and we’ll see some strong activity in the next few months.”