North Tahoe – Truckee Market Report – April 2024

                                                                                                                                                                           Residential Properties – Single Family Homes and Condominiums

Activity January through April 2024

Residential Sales Summary 2024

Total Residential Sales:

It’s springtime!  The weather is warming and so is the Tahoe/Truckee real estate market!  The number of sales in April 2024 were up 65% compared to April 2023.  However, being honest, that speaks more to how slow April 2023 was.  The 63 sales in April 2024 comes in at 81% of the 5 year average for the month and 74% of the 10 year average.  Year to date sales are at 80% of the 5 year average and 76% of the 10 year average.

The first 4 months of the year have been defined by the same factors we saw through 2023 . . . low supply coupled with tempered demand.  The good news is underlying activity feels encouraging.  Supply is increasing and demand is very encouraging.   We’re not anticipating a monster year, but it does seem like it will be busier than last year and closer to historical norms (when looking at number of transactions) than 2023 was.

Median and Average Sales Prices:   So far this year, the median residential sales price is $1,150,000 and the average was $1,483,306.

For single family homes the median is $1.3 million and the average was $1.69 million.

For condos the median price is $650,000 and the average was $958,732.

Prices are still at a very healthy premium from where they stood in 2019 (before COVID).  For Q1, the single family home median sales price is up 82% compared to 2019 (from $715k to $1.3m).

For condos the median sales price is up 49% compared to 2019 (from $437k to $650k).

Active Residential Inventory:

Active Listings:  Spring is in the air, and inventory is starting to climb from winter lows.  There are 337 residences currently on the market, up from the low 200s at this time last year.  Hower, in 2019 the number was over 400 so there’s still a ways to go to reach “pre covid norms”.

Current Pending Sales:  The number of pending sales is at 66 (level with last month).  About 66 residences went into contract in April.

Current inventory represents a little over 5 months of supply relative to April activity.  However, demand is strong and an influx of listings just hit the market for the holiday weekend.  So, we anticipate this number leveling out between 3 to 4 months of supply through most of the summer.

Sales Under $500,000:  April there were 16 residential sales under $500k, representing 6% of total sales.  In 2023, 6% of sales were in this range.

Mid-Range Market Sales $500,000 to $999,999:   93 residences sold between $500,000 and $999,999, representing 37% of total sales.   In 2023, 40% of sales were in this price range. 

High End Home Sales $1,000,000 to $1,999,999:   94 residences sold between $1m – $2m, representing 37% of total sales.  In 2023, 37% of total sales were in this range. 

Luxury Home Sales Over $2 Million:   48 residences have sold over $2 million, representing 19% of total sales.  This includes 7 sales over $5 million.  In 2023, 18% of sales were in this range.

What’s Going On Looking Forward?

The real estate market has sputtered along for nearly 2 years since the COVID boom.  However, the inventory of homes for sale has not built up and prices are still substantially higher than they were pre COVID.

As mentioned above, underlying activity is picking up. A strong stock market and steady interest rates is helping strengthen demand in our local market, which gives us reason to hope for increased activity in the coming year. The election, of course, will be an interesting variable to sprinkle in.

Multiple offer situations are making a comeback, particularly on homes priced under $1.5 million.    Over the last 8-12 weeks, many homes priced under $1 million have seen 2-4 offers, with some as many as 8.  As well the best new listings in the $1-2 million price range have drawn 2 to 4 offers.  We hadn’t seen a true bidding war (5+ offers) in a while, but it has happened recently on very special homes.

Though we are anticipating more supply this year than we saw in 2022 and 2023, low inventory will continue to be a big force on the supply side of the market.

We expect below “normal” (by pre COVID standards) activity, measured by number of transactions,  to continue in 2024, but are hopeful to see transactions climb closer to normal averages as we get deeper into the year.

Sellers, keep in mind, this is still a much better time to be a seller than it was in 2019 (which seemed like a very healthy market at the time!).  You can expect a shorter time on market, but much higher sales prices!

Buyers, keep in mind, this is the most balanced market we have seen in the last 3 years.  You now have the following things working in your favor:

• The ability to negotiate price is back!
• The ability to inspect a property and have normal contingencies is back!
• The ability to negotiate repairs is back!
• Interest rates have dropped back from highs and are steady.