There was some improvement in the average sales price, median sales price, and price per square foot of the properties in South Lake Tahoe that were sold in August. For the first time since September 2010, the median sales price actually went up. The median sales price went from $291,000 in July to $295,000 in August. This was a verymodest increase, but for the last 12 months there had been slight drops in the sales price each month.

The number of properties that were sold in August went down slightly as well. There were 44 single family homes and condos that were reported as sold on the South Lake Tahoe MLS, down only 3 units from 47 in July. 41 of the sold properties were single family homes and 3 were condos.

As of right now there are currently 504 single family homes listed on the MLS. There are 386 homes that are active and 118 homes that are in escrow.  Bank owned foreclosures account for 65 of the listings on the MLS. There are 26 bank owned foreclosures that are currently in escrow and 39 that are active. There are 71 short sales that are currently listed on the South Lake Tahoe MLS, 36 of the short sales are in escrow and 35 of the short sales are active.

Short sales and foreclosures are considered "distress sales".  Although distress sales only account for 27% (136 properties) of the total listings in South Lake Tahoe, they account for 52% (61 properties) that are currently in escrow or "under contract".

August South Tahoe Real Estate Statistics

• There were 44 single family homes and condos that were sold in August, down from 44 in July.
• The median sales price for the properties sold in August was $295,000, up from $291,000 in July and down 7.8%  from what it was in August 2010.
• The average sales price was $343,558, up from $301,743 in July.
• The average price per square foot was $192, up from $182 in July.
• The median days on the market was 96 and the average days on the market was 139.
• There were 11 bank owned foreclosures that were sold, down from 15 in July.
• There were 6 short sales that were sold, down from 8 in July.

There was a large increase in the sales price per square foot in the foreclosures that were sold in August. The average sales price per square foot  for the foreclosures was $171 in August, up from only $150 in July. The price per square foot of the short sales was $199, up from $198 in July.

With 118 properties in South Lake Tahoe currently in escrow on the South Lake Tahoe MLS, September and October should be solid months with respect to the number of properties sold. It will be interesting to see how the prices of the properties that sell compare to what they were in August.