The Reno/Sparks home market is ridiculous, and everyone knows it. If you’re a seller, your house is sold over the weekend. If you’re a buyer, in some cases you have to endure your agents writing 20 or more offers before yours finally gets accepted.

Now we’re getting to a place where inventory has gotten so tight, would-be sellers who’d love to sell can’t because they don’t know where they’d move to. So what’s going on? Let’s look at the numbers: 


  •  January Median at $360,000 is up 4% from December 2017, up 19% from a year ago
  • January Unit sales at 400 are down 19% from December 2017, up 19% from a year ago
  • January new listings up 51% at 470 compared to December, up 20% from one year ago
  • The January median sales price at $360,000 started 2018 at a near record for January. It was twelve years ago, when media price reached its peak of $365,000 in January 2006. Today’s market conditions are vastly different than they were in 2006. With inventory levels at record lows, it continues to put upward pressure on sales prices.
  • New Listings in January were up 50% from December. Sellers may see this as the time to sell. With the passage of the new tax bill, Californians will be looking at Reno as a safer place to own real estate.
  • Unit sales were down from the month prior, but up 10% from January 2017
  • January available active listing inventory was at a low of 528.
  • The average days to contract of 54 was down in January by 25% compared previous January.
  • Properties are remaining on the market an average of 99 days, down 9% from last January.
  • Sellers are receiving an average of 98.6% of list price up less than 1% from last January.

 In Conclusion, as a buyer things will be tight. As a seller they’ll be easy. Once things loosen up this year and start moving, it should get folks interested in upsizing or downsizing, in gear to sell. This will create more opportunities for first time home buyers in the resell market. In addition, with the many new homes coming on the market in the coming months and years, that should also get folks upgrading and selling. If you’re a buyer, hang in there, be persistent, and find a Realtor with a knack for getting things into contract.

Posted by Michael Hughes on
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