Sometimes South Lake Tahoe and National Real Estate Trends just don’t Jive.

November 24th, 2008 categories: For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Market Performance Updates, Median Sold Price Report, National real estate news, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA

South Lake Tahoe real estate news vs. NAR real estate news.Less Decline, More Sales: South Lake Tahoe is doing much better than today’s NAR Report.

According to the National Association of Realtors® in a national press release today, October existing home sales declined after strong gains in September. The NAR further says the cause of the decline is due to uncertainty and economic concerns that increased throughout October, and the continuing impact of home foreclosures across the country.

National real estate trends sometimes apply here, but not always. Every now and then South Lake Tahoe real estate varies remarkably against the norm, and this is one of those times.

Once again proving that “all real estate is local”, today’s national real estate report by the NAR has little to do with our second-home resort real estate market. It’s like we’re right-side up, and the national NAR report is upside-down.


A Tale of Two Different Realities :
As buyer fear and lack of confidence increases around the country from the daily deluge of serious national economic woes, it’s important to us to report that there are occasional bright spots on the horizon; there are safe harbors amid this sea of storms. South Lake Tahoe is both of those.

Lets look at the main points in the NAR article, followed by market reality in South Lake Tahoe real estate right now. (full NAR article here)

Demand : (more here)
The following has to do with the number of existing, single family homes sold.

NAR:
Existing-home sales fell 3.1% in October compared to September.

October home sales are 1.6% below October 2007.

South Lake Tahoe:
There was a 64% increase in single family home sales from September (28 sales) to October (46 sales).

There was a 17% increase in single family home sales when comparing October, 2007 (39 sales) to October, 2008 (46 sales).

Both of these increases are substantially higher than the NAR report, which contain’s only declines, and October sales in South Lake Tahoe, CA this year represents the most homes sold in any given month since November of 2006.

NAR:
There are a number of areas with solid sales gains from a year ago, including California and Florida as well as Boston, Minneapolis, and Denver.

Existing-home sales in the West eased by 1.6% in October but are 37.5% higher than October 2007.

South Lake Tahoe:
Again the number of sales here are significantly different than national results. Additionally, for those of us whose profession it is to help Buyers and Sellers in California, we think it’s important to add emphasis to sales gains in the Western U.S. Though the NAR includes this in their report, the overall impact in the national media is there are sales declines everywhere, which is obviously not the case in South Lake Tahoe.

Supply : (more here)
The following has to do with the inventory of homes for sale, and how long it will take for that inventory to be depleted.

NAR:
The number of existing U.S. homes available for sale declined .09% in October.

It will take 10.2 months to deplete the U.S. inventory of existing homes for sale at the current sales pace.

South Lake Tahoe:
The number of existing South Lake Tahoe homes available for sale declined .06% in October (essentially the same as the national average of .09%).

Home supply normally decreases from traditional summer highs in South Lake Tahoe this time of year. The number of available homes in November, 2007 (418) is about the same as it is this year (406).

At the current sales pace of 33.7 home sales per month, it will take 12 months to deplete the South Lake Tahoe, CA supply of 411 existing homes for sale (two months more than the national average).

Price  : (more here)
The following has to do with the median sold price of existing home sales.

NAR:
The national median sold price is down 11.3% compared to a year ago.

The median sold price in the West is down 27% from a year ago.

South Lake Tahoe:
The median sold price in South Lake Tahoe is down 6% compared to November of last year ($415,000 to $390,000).

This is 5.3% better than the national decline, and 21% better than the median sold price decline in the Western U.S.
In other words, South Lake Tahoe, CA home values have fared better than one might assume.

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This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 2:42 pm and is filed under For Buyers, For Sellers, Lake Tahoe Real Estate, Market Performance Updates, Median Sold Price Report, National real estate news, South Lake Tahoe Statistics, South Lake Tahoe, CA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  1. Real Estate Secret Info » Blog Archive » Sometimes South Lake Tahoe and National Real Estate Trends just … said at November 27th, 2008 at 3:40 am

    [...] Richard Bolen wrote an interesting post today onSometimes South Lake Tahoe and National Real Estate Trends just …Here’s a quick excerptNational real estate trends sometimes apply here, but not always. Every now and then South Lake Tahoe real estate varies remarkably against the norm, and this is one of those times. Once again proving that “all real estate is local”, … [...]

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