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Home Inventory Increases in South Lake Tahoe... and More are Coming.

By
Real Estate Agent with McCall Realty

South Lake Tahoe Inventory and EscrowMore listings means more competition, more choices and more opportunities for Buyers.

(LAKE TAHOE REAL ESTATE BLOG) We see it every year here in our South Lake Tahoe real estate market. It’s the perception among area home Sellers that there is a “selling” season. See the post below for further discussion and market facts about this perception.

More often than not, more home sales are produced after labor day each year, and sometimes in March and April. Since most homeowners don’t live here, those that want to sell their home would rather put it on the market after the snow melts. That makes sense, it’s easier! But it’s also to a Buyer’s advantage. And since Buyers drive every real estate market, this is good news!

Stateline, NV Real Estate Inventory and EscrowThe sudden glut in the market that we see at this time every year creates competition, and concomitantly, choice and opportunity for Buyers. This is especially true in our current market, whose condition is characterized by more supply than demand, a marked increase in expired listings, decreases in annual sales volume and a slight, though meaningful decline in median sold prices. This too is good news for Buyers.

The time it takes a home to sell has also increased, 144 days in South Lake Tahoe, CA and 188 days in Stateline, NV.

In the last three weeks there has been an increase of 133 listings on the market in South Lake Tahoe, CA. Inventory now is 576 homes for sale. This is a real estate market that produced 439 sales in 2006, which is performing at basically the same monthly absorption rate as it did last year. That is about 38 home sales per month. At this rate, we have far more homes on the market now than were sold in the last calendar year, 131% more to be exact... and more are coming.

In Stateline, NV, with about five times fewer homes than South Lake Tahoe, though the same market with virtually identical forces and conditions, and only separated by a state line running through the middle of it, there has only been an increase of 22 listings in the past three weeks. There are 158 homes on the market, which is 69 more than the 89 that were sold in 2006. In other words, our inventory in Stateline, NV is 177% more than what was sold last year.

One would assume that proportionate to an increase in inventory would be an increase in escrow. There has been an increase of 8 homes in escrow in the last three weeks in South Lake Tahoe, though this represents an actual percentage decrease compared to every other entry in the chart herein. There is both a decrease in escrow and percent escrow in Stateline, though only by 2 homes and some 2 percent.

What all this really means:
Showing season has started. Selling will come later, and Buyers will have a field day.

Comments (1)

Mary Pope-Handy
Christie's International Real Estate Sereno - Los Gatos, CA
CRS, CIPS, ABR, SRES, Silicon Valley
Is this also true of North Shore?

How are prices compared to a year ago?

Thanks!
May 27, 2007 05:10 PM