I’m watching our Lake Tahoe Buyer’s market turn to a Seller’s market as I write this blog. The recent actions of Lake Tahoe homeowners indicate to me that we are at the 
beginning of a seller’s market. In the last 30 days, 12 California homeowners withdrew their Lake Tahoe homes for sale off the market. On the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 4 homeowners pulled their homes off the market during the same period.
Median Price Going Up
Perhaps the reason for homeowners not wanting to sell their homes is because the median price of homes sold has been rising at a very fast pace lately, not only in Lake Tahoe but throughout both states. The median price of closed sales on the California side of Lake Tahoe in February was up 41.8% from February of 2012!
Demand Grows, Supply Shrinks
I continue to see an increasing number of home buyers showing interest in homes for sale in Lake Tahoe. I’m getting more calls now than ever before from my clients that were somewhat interested in purchasing that are now very interested. Couple this with our shrinking inventory of homes for sale and we have another reason why homeowners are pulling their properties off the market now to hopefully wait for larger sale price in the future.
Proof of a Seller’s Market
The amount of time to sell a home, or what I call “Days on Market” during the last 12 months dropped by 6.7% from an average of 158 days on the market to 147. To get an idea of the past, in April of 2007 the average was 222 days and in February of 2011, it was 208 days.
It appears that Lake Tahoe homeowners are going to play a game of “wait and see.” They want to realize their home’s full potential in the market so I believe they’ll hold off on selling until the median goes up even more.
If you are a Lake Tahoe Homebuyer or seller I can help you make the best decision as to the best time to purchase or sell. Call me so I can be your Real Estate Consultant for life.
