Coldwell Banker -2020 Real Estate Market Report - North Lake Tahoe -Truckee
Q1 Activity January – March 2020
Residential Sales Summary 2020
Total Residential Sales: Obviously it has been a crazy start to the year! The good news is 1st quarter activity in 2020 was up compared to 2019 in nearly all categories. The bad news is The Corona Virus, and the uncertainty it has created in all industries looking forward.
Where do we start??!! I’ll try to share some first-quarter data, and then some data since the virus knocked the world off-axis.
Despite the virus, the year did start out strong. There were 246 closed sales (homes and condos) in the 1st quarter, which is just above the average over the last 10 years of 243 sales (over the 10 years, we’ve seen a range from 206 to 272 sales). The 246 sales is a 9% increase over 1st quarter last year, when there were 225 sales. The number also could have been higher, but we had a flurry of cancellations (around 25 escrows) in the first couple weeks of March.
Like markets across our economy, March was a very volatile month here. We closed 79 transactions - up from 71 in March of 2019 (marking the sixth consecutive month in which there were more sales than the same month in the prior year). However, 79 sales fell well below the average of 96 which we have seen in March over the last 10 years. It was the third smallest number of sales in March for the 10 year period.
That said, closed sales in March were almost completely made up of contracts entered into in January and February, when the virus was a glimmer on the horizon. An interesting window to look at is the activity since March 10th (through April 14th). This is about the time public gatherings started to get canceled in mass (the “shelter in place” and “stay at home” ordinances started coming in play the following week) and stock market volatility was at its peak. Since that time we have seen 38 residences go into contract (about one per day, and it really has been spread out uniformly over the period rather than coming in clumps). At the same time, there were 18 contracts that canceled between 3/10 and 3/24, but then the number of canceled contracts slowed significantly. In the last 3 weeks we have seen just 6 canceled contracts.
Active Residential Inventory:
Active Listings: The virus has caused some sellers to withdraw their homes from the market (67 since March 10), while others have decided to go ahead with listing their home despite the virus (61 since March 10). Currently there are 331 residences for sale (compared to 349 this time last year).
There are 74 residences currently in-contract. 33 of these went into contract in March. Relative to the past 30 days activity, there is about 10 months of inventory on the market. Last year, at this time, there were 122 residences in escrow, 69 of which had gone into contract during the month of March.
Coldwell Banker Ranks #1: Among all brokerages in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee, Coldwell Banker continues to rank #1 in total number of sales. For the previous 12 months, Coldwell Banker represented 16.52% of sales. This represents 67% more transactions than our next closest competitor (9.87%).
REO & Short Sales: Distressed sales have been very rare in the last few years, but that definitely could change going forward.
Median and Average Sales Prices: For the 1st quarter, the median sales price was $644,888 (up slightly from $637,500 last year) and the average sales price was $1,008,732 (down from $1,167,783, but that number was skewed by a $37 million sale at Sunnyside. If you remove that sale, the average for 1st quarter 2019 was $1,007, 817).
Sales Under $500,000: Residences priced under $500,000 represented just over 28% of sales or 70 properties sold. Of those sales, 41 were condos. In 1st quarter 2019 there were 73 properties sold in this price range, 46 of which were condos.
Mid-Range Market Sales $500,000 to $999,999: There were 113 sales between $500,000 and $999,999, representing just under 46% of total sales. Eighteen of the sales were condos. In the 1st quarter 2019, there were 100 sales, including 15 condos.
Luxury Home Sales Over $1.0 Million: 63 properties sold over $1 million, representing nearly 26% of total sales. This is up from 52 sales in 1st quarter of 2019.
What’s Going On Looking Forward?
Coldwell Banker and its agents were very quick to adapt to the changing environment. In fact, most CB agents were working from home and adapting to doing everything virtually before any local or state ordinances went into place. We have the tools and know-how to operate in a virtual world. It’s important to mention that the Federal and State Government are including real estate as an “essential service”. That said, we are doing everything we can to eliminate person to person contact and to obey social distancing guidelines on the occasion live interaction is necessary. Selling real estate can be done without creating safety issues within our community!!
It will be very interesting to see what happens to our typical market cycles. In a normal year, this is our slowest time of year for sales and new contracts. Typically we expect a significant influx of new listings starting in late April, and accelerating in late May and June. Will that same cycle occur this year? Or, will the influx of new listings be pushed back later in the year? Sales activity typically picks up in July and then accelerates through the fall months. Will that timing be the same this year? Only time will tell.
Regardless of market trends, your Coldwell Banker agent will be here. If you have questions about the market or need resources because you can’t get to your home in the mountains, let us know!
Contact Me Today to Find Out More about the Opportunities Available in the North Lake Tahoe-Truckee Market.
Note: Data on this page is based on information from the Tahoe Sierra Board of Realtors, MLS. Due to MLS reporting methods and allowable reporting policy, this data is only informational and may not be completely accurate. Therefore, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage does not guarantee the data's accuracy. Data maintained by the MLS may not reflect all real estate activity in the market. CA-BRE License # 1908304