Our Region is Following National and State Trends  

Sales volume is down across North Tahoe and Truckee market much like the state and the nation. Officially in combined sales of both single family and condos for the area as a whole, we are down 24%. Broken out the overall drop in condos was much deeper than in single family homes. Condo sales fell nearly 40% while single family home sales came down 19%. By far, out of all the segments, Tahoe basin condo sales fell the most at 77% from a total of 13 last November to just 3 this November. Where we are seeing a difference here compared to most other market places is the significance in the sales volume drop. Most areas in the state and nation have been seeing single digit drops, not the double digit drops we have. 

Now there is no need to panic. I do believe our drop is largely do to lack of well priced inventory. One of our most recent listing sales was of a property that spent much of the summer on the market with another brokerage at a price that just wasn’t acceptable to buyers. The seller came to us asking to get the house sold. We put a price on the property that immediately got buyers attention and brought the seller two offers. Now you might be thinking maybe we under priced it. Considering the offers came in below our ask tells me it was still not being seen as a steal.  If buyers think a property is already a steal they likely come in at full price or better assuming the likelihood of multiple offers. Because the price was good it did get more than one offer allowing us to negotiate to a little over the original asking price. Moral of the story, it is still a market that if a property is priced right it will sell.

On a side note, Tahoe Truckee Homes has actually sold out all of our listings this year. We could use some more, so if you or anyone you know is thinking of selling please let us know. 

The other trend we are following the state and nation in is raising inventory levels. Overall, we have been seeing a slight up tick in inventory locally. For the end of November we were sitting just about 10% higher compared to a year ago. This is in alignment with most other markets. This does not appear to be anything that is going to impact value. Most markets have seen a leveling off of appreciation which I have expressed before, in my opinion is a good thing. It also appears interest rates have leveled off and most recently even dropped a little with the volatility in the stock and bond markets. Perhaps this will put some more activity back in the market to get us back up in sales volume.