Annual 2009 Tahoe Donner® Market Summary
January 8, 2010 · Print This Page
We all grabbed the edges of our seats and watched, with bated breath, as the 2009 real estate market unraveled. Some people prospered with new investments while others had to sadly let go of family legacies. In the last 6 years we have transitioned from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market to what we now call an “unpredictable ” market. This is a new ball game! The coming year will require sensitive monitoring of the market and the ability to make calculated moves at just the right time. Let’s take a closer look at what happened in 2009.
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES – Tahoe Donner
WHERE were the majority of homes sold?
56% of all single family home sales in Truckee were homes sold in Tahoe Donner. Tahoe Donner is unrivaled with the number of single family home sales in the year 2009! Tahoe Donner is a great place to invest.
Median ”NUMBER” of Single Family Homes Sold in 2009…
This chart illustrates the number of single family homes sold annually, in Tahoe Donner, from 2004 through 2009. Historically, we have experienced a 40% decrease in the number of homes sold since 2004 but on a brighter note we have experienced a 17.62% increase in the number of homes sold since last year. Let’s hope this is the new trend!
Median ”SALE PRICES” for Single Family Homes in 2009…
This charts shows the median sale prices of single family homes sold in Tahoe Donner from 2004 through 2009. In this analysis, single family home median sales prices were highest in 2005 (“the top of the market”) at $765,000 and have dropped 26% to a low of $565,000 at the end of 2009. Today’s median sale prices are actually 4% less than they were in 2004, the “old” low benchmark. This means that NOW is a great time to make investments in Tahoe Donner real estate. Even though inventory is low, there are still many good opportunities. BUY NOW while the market still supports these favorable conditions!
Which price range was hottest in Tahoe Donner for 2009 for single family homes?
This chart gives us an idea of which price ranges of homes are selling in Tahoe Donner. 77% of the single family homes that sold in 2009 sold for under $745,000. Only 7% of Tahoe Donner’s inventory sold for over $1 million dollars with the highest priced home selling at $1,350,000.
WHEN should you list your property if you are thinking about selling?
The purpose of this chart is to illustrate the seasonal trend in house selling. If we simply draw a line at the 6 month mark, 36% of the homes in 2009 sold in the first half of the year and 64% of the homes sold in the second half of the year. This means that if you want to sell your house this coming summer, assuming an average D.O.M. (Days on Market) of about 100 days, you’ll want to have your house ready to list early Spring! In order to maximize your selling price and shorten your selling time there are a couple of things you will need to do. 1) Give us enough time to thoroughly assess your house and advise you of the things you will want to do to make your house more “market ready”, 2) Let us develop a marketing strategy specific for your home and determine the best listing price.
Standard Sales? Short Sales? REO Sales?
Yes, like everywhere else in the country, Tahoe Donner witnessed Short Sales and REO’s this past year. 83% of the sales in Tahoe Donner were “standard” sales while 9% were Short Sales* and the remaining 8% were REO’s*. Truckee as a whole faired pretty well with 74% of the single family home sales being “standard” sales, 14% REO’s and the remaining 12% were Short Sales.
*Short Sale: A short sale is a sale of real estate in which the sale proceeds fall short of the balance owed on the property’s loan. It often occurs when a borrower cannot pay the mortgage loan on their property, but the lender decides that selling the property at a moderate loss is better than pressing the current debtor.
*REO: Real estate owned or REO is a class of property owned by a lender, typically a bank, after an unsuccessful sale at a foreclosure auction.
As a side note…. I have not included a comparison of list price to sale price as many homes were listed by several agents before finally selling. For example, Agent #1 may have listed the property at $899K. After a few months the unsatisfied seller cancelled the listing with Agent #1 and listed with Agent #2 at a reduced price of $750. When Agent #2 failed to sell the house, the Seller cancelled the listing again and listed with Agent #3 who took the listing at fair market value, let’s say $685K and sold the house in a reasonable amount of time. In this market, this is a very typical scenario. The first Agent “bought” the listing and the last Agent “sold” the property!
What does all this mean for buyers and sellers?
For Buyers, we don’t expect to see home prices fall in 2010. The general trend shows that the downward spiral of prices has settled and the increase in the number of Tahoe Donner sales shows us that people are buying! Take advantage of this opportunity to buy.
For Sellers, it looks like home prices have settled. Prices probably aren’t going to fall much more in 2010 and on the flip side, prices won’t rise too quickly in the near future. If you have been thinking about or needing to sell, the most sound advice is to price correctly, get your house on the market and entice the buyers NOW while there are fewer houses on the market and less inventory for buyers to choose from.
CONDOS and TOWNHOMES – Tahoe Donner
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2009 Lot sales in Tahoe Donner were down 29% (17 to 12) from 2008 and the median sold price was down 26% for non-amenity / share-ownership lots when compared to 2008. As of 1/7/10 there were 31 active lots on the market for sale.
The data for our Annual 2009 Tahoe Donner Real Estate Market Summary is retrieved from the Tahoe Sierra Board of Realtors and we use “median data” to make our comparisons and draw conclusions on trends or general tendencies. Information derived from “median data” is often used as an indicator of the strength and the direction of the real estate market.
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Excellent. Great information. I read this every month. Thank you!
Our pleasure! Thank you!