Existing sales not at peak numbers, but sale amounts still strong
Brian Kaiser, Center for Regional Studies, UNR
The housing data has been particularly challenging to report on lately – I’m not generally a doom-and-gloom economist, but these housing numbers have not been much fun to write about in 2007. I struggle to find a bright spot amid the housing economy ruins, at the risk of coming off sounding like a realtor (“it’s ALWAYS a good time to buy or sell!”). So Washoe County’s home sales in November were largely a repeat of the previous several months…single family homes of both new and existing varieties are languishing on the market while prices continue their slide down from the peak. And, once again, sales of existing condo units hold out as the sole glimmer of hope that there are some signs of life in Truckee Meadows real estate.
Overall, the number of new and existing single family home sales in Washoe County was down 43% in November 2007 from a year earlier…and the units that did sell did so for 6% less money than in November 2006. The median sales price of the 332 single family units that sold in November was $327,500. True, that’s quite a bit lower than it was during the peak in 2005, but it still represents a pretty strong number for a market whose median home price was just $140,000 in 2000. There is still a ton of equity in this market; it’s just not evenly distributed to those who happened to buy in the last couple of years.
Existing condos, on the other hand, posted another strong month of sales in November with a 31% increase in sales and a 29% increase in median sales price from a year earlier. The median sales price of the 81 existing condos that sold in November was $240,000. There were relatively few new condo sales in November (16 total), but the median sales price of $288,000 represented a 4% increase over the previous year.
Regionally, there weren’t many standouts this month – the number of new and existing single family sales were down across the board, but there were modest price increases for existing homes in both the North Valleys (+3.3%) and Old Southeast (+5.5%) subregions. Both of those areas saw huge decreases in the number of units sold – down 28% in the North Valleys and 63% in the Old Southeast – so prices may be slightly up, but sales are still way down from a year ago.
For the Reno-Sparks area, there are still some very solid fundamentals that haven’t changed much lately: employment is still growing in most industries, people are still relocating here for work and quality of life reasons, and prices are still somewhat of a bargain relative to neighboring states. And that, my friends, will be what ultimately helps Reno pull through this housing mess in the coming year.
For more information regarding the local real estate market, please check out our website at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nvdata.org";>www.nvdata.org<;/a> and scroll through the free data and downloads section. The Center for Regional Studies is an economic development partnership between the Nevada Small Business Development Center and the University of Nevada, Reno.
Overall, the number of new and existing single family home sales in Washoe County was down 43% in November 2007 from a year earlier…and the units that did sell did so for 6% less money than in November 2006. The median sales price of the 332 single family units that sold in November was $327,500. True, that’s quite a bit lower than it was during the peak in 2005, but it still represents a pretty strong number for a market whose median home price was just $140,000 in 2000. There is still a ton of equity in this market; it’s just not evenly distributed to those who happened to buy in the last couple of years.
Existing condos, on the other hand, posted another strong month of sales in November with a 31% increase in sales and a 29% increase in median sales price from a year earlier. The median sales price of the 81 existing condos that sold in November was $240,000. There were relatively few new condo sales in November (16 total), but the median sales price of $288,000 represented a 4% increase over the previous year.
Regionally, there weren’t many standouts this month – the number of new and existing single family sales were down across the board, but there were modest price increases for existing homes in both the North Valleys (+3.3%) and Old Southeast (+5.5%) subregions. Both of those areas saw huge decreases in the number of units sold – down 28% in the North Valleys and 63% in the Old Southeast – so prices may be slightly up, but sales are still way down from a year ago.
For the Reno-Sparks area, there are still some very solid fundamentals that haven’t changed much lately: employment is still growing in most industries, people are still relocating here for work and quality of life reasons, and prices are still somewhat of a bargain relative to neighboring states. And that, my friends, will be what ultimately helps Reno pull through this housing mess in the coming year.
For more information regarding the local real estate market, please check out our website at <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nvdata.org";>www.nvdata.org<;/a> and scroll through the free data and downloads section. The Center for Regional Studies is an economic development partnership between the Nevada Small Business Development Center and the University of Nevada, Reno.
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