Tahoe Donner Real Estate: Luxury Sales Outpacing the Overall 2021 Market

A Seller's Market

In a real estate market that's rumored to be otherwise cooling, Tahoe Donner is bucking the trend.

The median sales price of a home in this community above Truckee rose for the first time ever to more than $1 million this year. And it's been inching up steadily.

By Sept 30 this year, 236 homes changed hands in Tahoe Donner, and well over half of them (58 percent) sold for more than $1 million.  That's a whopping 43 percent increase over last year's Q3 median price of $769,000.  And even more impressive when you consider that just two years ago the majority of homes (84 percent) fetched less than $1 million.

Luxury Homes Now the Majority of Tahoe Donner Sales

The scales have literally tipped, and thanks to the…

48948 Views, 0 Comments

Will the Tahoe Truckee Real Estate Market Cool this Fall?

As we move into Fall, I keep hearing one question from my clients: Is the real estate market cooling down yet?

On the heels of last year’s pandemic shutdowns, the value of Tahoe/Truckee real estate skyrocketed. The volume of sales tripled in some markets, and the median sales price rose for the first time ever to more than $1 million in most of our markets.

What goes up must come down. That’s what my clients keep telling me.

But that’s not what the data shows … at least not so far.

We are not seeing the sort of panic buying we did amid the Covid shutdowns last year. Anecdotally, there are definitely fewer buyers in town than we saw earlier this summer. Schools are back to live learning in many of our Bay Area feeder markets, parents are…

2043 Views, 0 Comments

Lake Tahoe Real Estate: A Millionaire's Playground?

Lake Tahoe Real Estate: A Millionaire's Playground?

Lake Tahoe real estate is suddenly becoming a commodity available mostly to those who can afford to spend more than $1 million. Luxury sales tripled at the Lake in the first six months of this year, and the median sales price climbed to an unprecedented $1M, a 44 percent jump from the year before.

But most surprising is that for the first time ever, many areas of Lake Tahoe and Truckee saw more homes selling for over $1 million, than under. Last year at this time, for example, luxury sales represented just one-third of the overall sales at the Lake. And this year so far, homes priced over $1 million outpaced more affordable properties.

From January to June this year, 383 homes closed at…

1354 Views, 0 Comments

Tahoe Donner's Growing Luxury Real Estate Market

High Demand for Tahoe Donner luxury Homes

By Jackie Ginley, Tahoe Donner "Resident" Real Estate Expert

* Aug 31, 2026 Update:  When I published this report in February of 2021, I was surprised to see what looked like an emerging trend in Tahoe Donner home sales. Long home to gambrels, and A-Frame cabins (some built for summer living with no garage), Tahoe Donner was seeing a steady increase in demand for more custom, high end homes. By 2020, Luxury home sales in Tahoe Donner tripled from what they had been just 15 years before.  Homes priced over $1 million -- long the minority in this community above Truckee -- sold at a faster pace in 2020, and for higher prices -- than ever before in the history of this resort destination.

It wasn't just a…

2681 Views, 0 Comments

Tahoe Real Estate in 2020: Can it Continue?

2020: A Banner Year for Tahoe Real Estate

Almost $3 billion worth of real estate changed hands in Tahoe/Truckee & Incline/Crystal Bay last year. For single-family homes, that’s a whopping 87 increase in volume over 2019 – a staggering jump that no one has seen in recent memory, and more than double the gains we saw in 2012, when bargain buying fueled a recovering market.

But there were almost no bargains to be found last year.  Homes that were priced right and showed well received multiple offers and often sold for well over asking. 

A Year for Luxury

The highest demand was for homes priced under $1 million, but luxury sales also soared in 2020. Close to half (45 percent) of the homes that sold in North Tahoe and Truckee last year closed for…

1191 Views, 0 Comments

Time to Sell in Tahoe?

Strong Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market Favors Sellers

Overnight, it seems, Tahoe has become a seller’s market. Low inventory around the Lake, fueled by an increasing urban desire to escape from the confines of city life, has driven home prices around Lake Tahoe to a new 12-month high.

The median sales price for a single-family home around Tahoe rose to almost $853k, more than $100k over last May, when the beaches and hotels were open and we all took dining out for granted.

Incline Village Home Values on the Rise 

In Incline, the median sales price rose 6.5 percent in May over this time last year.  That's almost a whopping 50 percent increase over pricing in April, when the market was still on wobbly post-Covid knees.

…

1440 Views, 0 Comments

Coronavirus and the Lake Tahoe Real Estate Market

Lake Tahoe's North & West Shore poised for solid April Real Estate Sales

On the California side of the Lake, the pace of sales was stronger in the 1st quarter of 2020 than it had been in 2019, and the median sales price of a single family home on the North & West Shore rose 4 percent to $670,000. 

Overall sales volume was down 25 percent over the same period in 2019. But those numbers were heavily slanted by one whopper of a sale – Mark Zuckerberg’s $37 million purchase of the Brushwood Estate (pictured below) in January of 2019, which accounted for two-thirds of last year's 1st Quarter sales volume.

By the first week of April, we had 18 homes under contract at the Lake, a few of which had accepted offers after the state shutdowns. …

1251 Views, 0 Comments

Coronavirus and the Tahoe Donner Real Estate Market

What Buyers and Sellers Need to Know about Coronavirus and the Tahoe Donner Real Estate Market

Coronavirus fears aside, the pace of real estate sales in Tahoe Donner was slightly better for the first three months of 2020 than it had been in 2019. Total Q1 sales volume rose to $33 million, with 7 more homes selling during the first quarter of this year than last. While we did see some cancellations in March due to Covid-19 concerns, six Tahoe Donner homes sold in the first week of April, including this new custom home near the Tahoe Donner Golf Course that sold on April 8 for a little over $1.4 million (within 4 percent of its original asking price):

• 47 homes sold in Tahoe Donner from January to March this year (up from 40 during the same…

3601 Views, 0 Comments

Tahoe Donner 2020 Market Forecast

In the 15 years since home prices began to slide toward recessionary lows, many Tahoe & Reno neighborhoods have seen significant gains.

This week’s focus is on Tahoe Donner, a resort community of some 6,000 homes in the hills above Truckee.

Tahoe Donner remains a relatively affordable option for Bay Area residents looking for a vacation home with nice amenities. With a terrific fitness center, several swimming pools, golf, tennis, and one of North America’s best Cross Country Ski Areas, Tahoe Donner is one-stop vacation destination. (Click here for additional info)

The majority of single-family homes here sell for under $1 million (84 percent last year). And many of these can be rented as furnished vacation properties when owners are not in…

3554 Views, 0 Comments

Tahoe Donner in the Mercury News

**Click here to View Tahoe Donner Homes for Sale**

With some 6,000 homesites and close to a 60-year history, Tahoe Donner is not exactly a "secret." But, hey, we've been discovered by the Merc now! 

Browse Tahoe Donner Homes for Sale

2827 Views, 0 Comments