The Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market continues to be very active with Incline Village and the Tahoe City area (West Shore & North Shore) leading the overall Lake Tahoe market with strong increases in dollar volume (28% and 15%) on single family home sales over the same period in 2016. The East Shore and South Shore showed declines (4% and 9%) in dollar volume. All four areas showed declines in the number of single family homes sold. However all areas showed increases in average sales price and, with the exception of the East Shore, showed increases in median price.
Condominium sales had a stronger increase in dollar volume (37%) and units sold (18%) around the Lake. Tahoe City showed the highest increase in both dollar volume (196%) and units sold (81%) although Incline Village had the highest total dollar volume and units sold.
It appears that the single family home market has shifted upwards with the majority of sales in the $500,000 to $1,000,000 price range. That is why both median prices and average prices have increased even though units sold have declined. The under $500,000 buyers have turned to the condominium market. More than 50% of the condominiums sold around the lake were in that price range however over $500,000 sales were much higher than in the same period last year.
I think the reason for this shift upwards is the number of single family homes being listed under $500,000 has gone down. Currently only 12% of the listings in the Tahoe City area are in that price range. 50% are priced between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and 38% above $1,000,000. What is also interesting is the median days on market, for single family homes, has dropped 51% from 74 days last year to 38 this year. We are seeing a similar drop for condominiums.
Our market has gotten stronger, prices have increased and properties are selling faster. I think this is due to several factors; the drought has ended and the California economy is strong. Despite how crippling the storms of last winter were we saw record numbers of people up here in the winter, the spring and now in the summer. The Lake Tahoe area is Northern California’s playground!
Obviously this is good news for those considering selling their property, especially if they purchased in the economic downturn. However now is still a great time to purchase a property in this area even through prices are going up. They will continue to go up. I talked with a buyer who purchased a home in Tahoe Vista last fall who was concerned that he had bought at the top of the market. He was very pleased when I showed him the statistics that median prices in our area had increased by 13%.
Contact me to discuss either selling or purchasing options at grankin@chaseinternational.com or 530-913-6020. You can also sign up for an interactive property search by clicking on the blue New Listing Watch box on the upper right of this page.
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