Year to Year Stats Truckee and North Lake Tahoe

So, I am sitting here on a beautiful autumn day, in the office negotiating 2 contracts on one listing - we should all be so lucky!! Must have priced the house correctly, huh? (One smart Realtor!) Only 5 days on the market. So the question comes to my mind: Are things beginning to turn around in the Real Estate Market in Truckee and North Lake Tahoe? While I am waiting for the machinations of e-mail, phone calls, scanning, etc. I decided to run the stats. These statistics were taken from the sold listings between the beginning of January each year until the end of September each respective year (this year we are not quite at the end - expect a few more closings). This is what I found:

YEAR Qty Sold Vol Sold Average Sale Active Inventory

2009 553 $ 363,649,877 $657,595 2823

2008 546 488,204,884 894,148 2872

2007 635 561,638,896 884,471 2815

2006 720 683,205,789 948,897 2234

2005 988 756,058,456 765,656 1541

2004 1151 702,935,829 610,717 1656

(These stats are courtesy of the Tahoe Sierra Multiple Listing Service and include all single family residences (homes, condos and mobile homes) EXCEPT those located in Sierra or Plumas County.)

This is just a tiny bit of an indicator but it looks to me that inventory peaked in 2008 and sales have increased (unit wise) in 2009. I don’t want to make any projections but this looks like overall the beginning of a healthier market. Inventory is coming down, consequently there are fewer choices for buyers, giving them a sense of urgency. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on which side you are coming at it from) we cannot say as much for the average sale price. You can see that there has been a dramatic decrease since 2005 and that the average is returning to the 2004 level.

Well, I got the paperwork ready for the counter offers so I guess I will move on to the next business of the day our Client Appreciation Party! Gotta go and cook!!