Winter 2023: Big Snow Hammered Tahoe Real Estate Sales

Winter Sales Down by Half

Low inventory, high interest rates, and unprecedented snowfall left the Tahoe Truckee real estate market with a sluggish start to 2023.

Throughout the region, the volume of sales was roughly half of what we had seen in the first quarter of last year. On the California side, including Truckee and the ski areas, only 98 homes changed hands in the first quarter of this year (compared to 182 the year before).

Most Sales in Tahoe Donner

As in past years, the majority of the sales were in Tahoe Donner. The median sales price there fell to $1.2 million (down from $1.3 million the year before). More than half of the homes closed for over $1 million, reflecting an emerging trend toward luxury in Truckee’s largest subdivision.

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Tahoe Truckee Real Estate: Can it Keep Going Up?

Despite rising interest rates, high prices at the pump, and the war in Ukraine, buyer demand for Tahoe Truckee real estate remained strong in the first four months of this year.  Some markets showed impressive gains over last year, and some presented the opportunity to negotiate on price.

Overall, buyers showed a strong preference for the very old (or new meant to look old), and the very new. 

One example of this is a Carnelian Bay lakefront that sold for more than $23 million. With pine paneling and a great room framed by log scissor trusses, it looks like it was built in the 1940s, but it’s actually less than 10 years old.  A Bruce Olson masterpiece, it captures the unique charm of homes built with organic materials like granite and the big…

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Christmas Week in Tahoe: 9+ Feet of Snow

Unprecedented Christmas Week Snowfall

With more than 9 feet of snow, and precipitation levels exceeding 250% of normal, Christmas week in Tahoe have been tough for travel, great news for skiers, and better news for the drought!

Check out the roads in Tahoe Donner this morning (Dec. 27, 2021), and give a big Thank You to all of our dedicated plow teams with the Town, and the local private plow services!

Here is what it looks like on today's chart from the Sierra Snow Lab:

And Tahoe Lake Levels are inching toward the Full Pool of 6,225

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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 Lake Tahoe for $1 million or more. That's more than…

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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.

…

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Coronavirus and the Gray's Crossing Real Estate Market

Buyer Opportunities at Gray's Crossing

Gray’s Crossing, a newer golf course community of some 450 homes near downtown Truckee, saw 4 homes sell in the first quarter of 2020, a nice rebound from the first three months of 2019, when there were no sales. All of this year’s sales are homes that had gone into contract by late February or earlier, well before Tahoe and the rest of California was shuttered.

The community really hit its stride in 2020 with the median sales price rising to $1,695,000, and 43 home sales (a record number of sales never before seen in Gray's). One went under contract on March 14, the day before Tahoe’s ski resorts were shut down. The other – a stunning new home on the golf course at $1.9 million - had an accepted offer on…

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Lake Tahoe Real Estate: Sales are Down and Prices are Up

What happens now?

Home sales at Lake Tahoe are down 20 percent over last year at this time. But the median sales price inched up 2 percent, continuing a trend that has sustained upward pricing momentum since 2013, when overall home values began rebounding from recession-era pricing. 

While that might signal that the market is in for a correction, we’ve seen similar numbers at the lake in past years without a drop in value.  The mid-year numbers in 2014, for example, looked a lot like today. Sales were down 18 percent from the year before, but the median sales price was up 3 percent.  Prices might have been expected to cool, but on the contrary, the median sales price shot up 13 percent the following year, and 2016 was a banner year, with home values…

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Lake Tahoe's Short Term Rental Debate

The growing popularity of short-term rentals has sparked a homeowner backlash in the Tahoe region, leading to restrictions in some parts of the Basin and even new home developments in Reno. So far, those restrictions do not seem to have had a dampening effect on the real estate market.

From South Lake Tahoe, which found itself in court after trying to phase out short-term rentals, to Washoe County, which is considering regulations that could affect Incline Village and parts of Reno, public officials are grappling with the same question: Should you be allowed to buy a home or condo and run it like a motel?

Back in the days before “Airbnb” became a verb, that question never really entered the public arena.

Short-term rentals (STRs) have long…

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Truckee One of CA's "Safest" Cities

No surprise to locals, but Truckee has been ranked as the 4th safest city in all of California.

The Town with a 19th Century history of bar brawls and gun fighting was beat only by the tony Bay Area community of Hillsborough, Palos Verdes, and Imperial (where you might find more cows than people).

Good thing the Safety Pollsters didn't collect data on ski injuries! 

If you are considering a home purchase here, CLICK HERE for a link some great properties for sale.

Here is a link to the Full Report

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Market Watch - Tahoe/Truckee Home Sales Hit Record Highs

Lahontan Home Sales up 41% over 2017

With interest rates up, and today’s stock market feeling like a roller coaster ride, the economy ended 2018 on wobbly knees. But that does not seem to have dampened enthusiasm for the Tahoe/Truckee real estate market, which closed out the year with a record $1.3 billion in sales.

Fewer homes sold than in 2017, but higher prices pushed the region’s overall volume up to a record high that’s almost three times the dollar volume that sold a decade ago, when the slide into the recession had just begun. Tahoe/Truckee single-family home sales were up last year almost $174 million over 2017.

New construction has certainly contributed to the gain. We have more homes now than we did a decade ago — that’s a fact.…

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