2013 Residential Real Estate sales activity is slightly ahead of its level at this same time in 2012 (up 5%), and last year was a very good year. As we saw in 2012 the North Tahoe – Truckee area is continuing to be very appealing to buyers. However, there are some significant differences in our market this year.
- Sold Distressed Properties: down 27%
- Sold Luxury Homes (over $1,000,000): up 78%
- Homes Sold under $500,000: down 6%
- Homes Sold between $500,000 and $1,000,000: up 1%
- Average Sales Price: up 24%
- Median Sales Price: up 15%
- Active Residential Listings: down 17%
As I have mentioned in earlier market reports, the real estate market in this area has changed from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market for several reasons, the most significant reason being the huge reduction in Distressed Property listings.
For the last four years, bank owned (REO’s) and short sale residential listings totaled 30+% of all active listings. Currently they total just 1.5% of all active residential listings. So far this year 19% of all residential sales have been Distressed Properties compared to 38% at this time last year. Buyers have snapped these up and presently there are very few new Distressed Property listings.
Another factor causing us to be in a Seller’s market is the low level of residential listings; currently we have 784 compared to 951 at this time last year. This has improved slightly from earlier in the year, but I think we will continue to see less inventory on the market than we have been used to.
Although we continue to see conflicting reports on the condition of our economy in this country, the stock market is up (historic highs), consumer confidence is up, housing starts are up across the country, interest rates are still at historic lows and as we are seeing in all of Northern California and across the nation, confidence in the real estate market is up.
These factors have caused our prices to increase and we are seeing more multiple offers on properties (mostly the lower and mid-priced listings) than we saw last year. The majority of our sales (52%) are still in the under $500,000 price range with mid range priced properties representing the 2nd largest segment (28%). What is particularly interesting is the large increase in sales of Luxury Homes accompanied by a 34% increase in the median price of those homes with the majority of these sales being in Northstar and the Martis Valley (Martis Camp and Lahonton)
As we now move into the wonderful Sierra summer season, when we typically have lots of real estate activity, it is the time for interested buyers to act. Yes prices have gone up, but they are still at 10 year lows, and all indications are that we will continue to see values increase over the next several years. There are still many very nice properties available to purchase at very good prices.
Leave a Reply