South Lake Tahoe, CA Absorption Rates Updated: Buyers Rule in Our Real Estate Market.

Decline in Demand and Increase in Inventory creates Excellent Buying Opportunities.

(LAKE TAHOE REAL ESTATE BLOG) We’ve just updated the Absorption Rates for our South Lake Tahoe, CA real estate market. We are still experiencing changes in our market, with a slight decline in demand and median sold prices. At present the market offers opportunity for Buyers, and for Sellers too who price their home within our current real estate market reality.

Here’s a bullet-point summary followed by a brief review about what this latest update reveals:

<!-- technorati tags start -->

Summary:

• In the last 365 days, our South Lake Tahoe, CA market has sold an average of 34 homes a month.
• In the last 6 months, the monthly average has dropped to an average of 29 sales per month.
• This is a decline of a little more than 9 sales per month compared to 6 months ago.
• It will take 15.4 months to sell our inventory at the current absorption rates over the last 356 days.
• It will take 18.4 months to sell at the absorption rate over the last 180 days.
• This is an increase of 5 months of inventory compared to 6 months ago.

The Bottom Line:

• It will take almost about 1.5 years to sell what’s on the market now.
• There are more homes on the market than will sell this year.
• Almost 25% of our current listings will not sell anytime soon.
• Motivated Sellers will increasingly represent Excellent Opportunities for Buyers.

Number Sales - Decline in Demand is Excellent Opportunity for Buyers.

• There have been 417 homes sold in South Lake Tahoe, CA in the last 365 days.
• There have been only 174 homes sold in the last 6 months.
• At current 180-day absorption rates, there will be only 350+ homes sold in 2007.
• There were 439 homes sold in 2006.
• There were 687 homes sold in 2005.
• There were 843 sold in 2004.
• There were 697 sold in 2003.

Inventory - Increase in Supply is Excellent Opportunity for Buyers.

• There are 534 listings currently available for sale.
• There were 353 listings 6 months ago.
• Increases in inventory will continue until Labor Day.
• Inventory load will produce more choices for Buyers.
• Inventory load will produce more motivated Sellers... who actually will sell at current market reality, rather than cling to prices that are no longer viable in today’s Buyer driven market.

The Good News for Sellers:

• There have been 417 successful Sellers in the last 365 days.
• Most all have seen significant increases in the value of their property since they have owned it.
• If they have owned their home for 5 years or more, chances are they more than doubled their investment.
• Proper pricing at this time will result in a successful sale and a strong profit on your investment, especially if you purchased your home in 2003 or earlier.
• The difference between a successful Seller is proper pricing in today’s market reality, though that might not be as much as the summer of 2005, for example, a successful sale still comes with a significant profit.
• There is no profit to be had if a Seller remains attached to a price that the market will not accept.