Residential Sales Summary 2020
Total Residential Sales:
The last two months have been one of the busiest periods that the Tahoe Truckee area has ever seen. Starting in mid-May, activity surged and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down.
Monitoring closed sales has been a roller coaster this year. Q1 activity was up, followed by the lowest numbers we had seen in more than a decade in April/May, putting us at 86% of the ten year average for closed escrows YTD. By June, it had all turned around with 185 sold homes, which is 35% higher than the next highest June in the past ten years (137 sales in June 2017). It is a 59% increase over the number of transactions in June 2019 (116) and 52% higher than the ten year average for June (122).
Year to Date (January through June) 558 residences have sold. That is a 5% increase over the first half of last year (531 sales) and brings us just above the ten year average of 554 residences in the first six months of a year.
Active Residential Inventory:
Active Listings:
In a typical year, we see the number of listings double, or more, between April 1 and July 1. While the number of
new
listings was in line with what we typically see in May and June, the massive amount of new contracts has decimated the active inventory. There are currently just 293 residences actively for sale,
down
from 382 residences a month ago. Last year at this time, there were 640 residences for sale, so our active inventory is about 45% of what it was a year ago.
Current Pending Sales:
As mentioned above, 373 residences are in contract as of July 13.
A total of 190 properties went into contract in May and a whopping 318 in June.
Relative to the activity level in June, there is less than a one month supply of inventory actively on the market! Just two months ago, we were at a 12 month supply relative to the previous 30 days of activity—what a turnaround.
Coldwell Banker Ranks #1:
Among all brokerages in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee, Coldwell Banker continues to rank #1 in the total number of sales. For the previous 12 months, Coldwell Banker represented 16.2% of sales, 68% more transactions than our next closest competitor (9.64% of sales).
Median and Average Sales Prices:
For the period January through June, the median sales price was $674,500 (up slightly from $669,000 last year), and the average sales price was $986,430 (down from $1,043,139, but that number is skewed by a $37 million sale at Sunnyside. If you remove that sale, the average sale for the same period in 2019 was $975,296). In June, the median sales price was $706,875, and the average was $987,193.
Median and Average sales prices are going to be interesting to monitor going forward with both Median and Average sales prices expected to surge. The properties currently under contract have a median asking price of $825,000, and an average asking price of $1,183,055. Since a significant number of properties are in contract above asking price (some far above ask price), the sold numbers could be even higher.
Sales Under $500,000:
For the first half of the year, residences priced under $500,000 represented just over 25% of sales or 141 properties sold. Of those sales, 71 were condos. For the same period in 2019, there were 151 properties sold in this price range, 100 of which were condos.
Mid-Range Market Sales $500,000 to $999,999:
In the first half of the year, there were 277 sales between $500,000 and $999,999, representing just under 50% of total sales. Twenty-five of the sales were condos. For the same period in 2019, there were 253 sales, including 33 condos.
Luxury Home Sales Over $1 Million:
140 properties have sold over $1 million, representing 25% of total sales. This is up from 127 sales in the same period in 2019.
REO & Short Sales:
Distressed sales have been scarce the last few years. So far this year, there have been just 3 foreclosure sales.
What’s Going On Looking Forward?
These are unprecedented times. Even in the best of years, May and June are not as busy as this May and June were (from the perspective of homes going
into
contract), and early July numbers make it appear that it will dramatically outpace July’s of the past.
Why is this happening?
The residential real estate market is robust around most of the country for one primary reason;
HOME
is more important than ever. People are spending more time in their homes than they have before.
First of all, the increase in demand is multifaceted: 1. An ability work remotely along with 2. people wanting a place to escape to that they can get in a car (not a plane) to get to has driven demand for homes in Tahoe to all-new levels. It has also changed the timing and urgency of that demand as people want to be here
now
. The current demand is further fueled by 3. a stock market that is currently in positive territory for the year and 4. interest rates dropping to historic lows.
On the supply side, items 1 & 2 above are also contributing to our lack of inventory. Current owners that we were expecting to be listing their homes this year are now holding onto them for the same reasons Buyers are looking to purchase; they want a place to go and shelter away from urban centers.
While we wait for a vaccine, as long as COVID cases
continue to rise, we anticipate our current market
dynamics will continue.
