Weekly Watch (Week Ending May 30, 2020)

For those of you who have followed my blogs over the past several years, my usual content offers the most exciting and interesting events and activities in Northern Nevada every week. It is called “The Weekend Warrior.” Since our social calendar has been obliterated by the COVID-19 pandemic, I shifted my focus to what is happening in the Reno-Sparks real estate market in “The Weekly Watch.” My objective is to keep you well-informed about weekly market trends so you can make informed decisions regarding your real estate investments. The graphs below represent activity for single-family residences (excluding condos, townhouses and new construction) from the week ending May 30, 2020 compared to the previous week and year. The numbers are subject to change slightly, due to late reporting by real estate agents to Northern Nevada Multiple Listing Service.

The Median Sales Price for single family residences in Reno-Sparks combined, at $420,000, increased 5% week-over-week and 8.3% year-over-year. The Median Sales Price has hovered around the $400,000 mark over the last several months, and appears to be unaffected by coronavirus at this time.

The # of Closed Sales statistic is starting to show some hope, as 103 homes closed escrow the week ending May 30 compared to 93 homes the previous week, a 10.8% increase. Though sales volume is still about 40% lower than this same time last year, we anticipate the # of Closed Sales should continue to increase as these are homes that went into contract about one month ago, and over the last several weeks, the # of New Contracts has steadily and rapidly increased.

Low inventory and continued Buyer demand are likely contributors to the high percentage of list price that Sellers are receiving. The week ending May 30, Seller’s received and average of 98.6% of asking price. Please bear in mind that some of these contracts may have come at a point after the Seller had reduced the list price.

During the week ending May 30, single family homes that closed escrow took an average of 44 days from listing the property to negotiating a contract. This statistic is unchanged week-over-week, and up about 28% from the same week last year. The # of Days to Contract stat is representative of properties that went into contract about 30 days ago, a customary timeframe for escrow.

Looking at the length of time from the property hitting the market to the date of written offer acceptance, the average days to contract were the greatest in the $900k to $1M price range.

The # of Active single family homes available for sale dipped again another 8% (-5.4%) week-over-week. Since the WHO (World Health Organization) Pandemic Declaration, our active inventory has held fairly constant, as indicated in the circled timeframe. Overall, 38% fewer active listings are on the market than the same week in 2019.

As more businesses resume “semi-normal” activity, and Buyers are getting out to find new homes and investments, we continue to see an increase of New Contracts week-over-week and year-over-year. There were 7.5% more New Contracts the week ending May 30 than the week ending May 23. And there are 19.3% more New Contracts than this same week last year.

The # of New Listings brought to market (116 listings) dropped again, with 18.3% fewer homes being listed the week ending May 30 compared to the week ending May 23. There were nearly 31.4% fewer homes listed this week than during the same week in 2019.

Summing It Up…

Overall, the Sales Volume and # of New Listings on the market remains low, especially this time of year.
With New Contracts on the rise over the last several weeks, we should start seeing a subsequent increase in number of Units Sold in the weeks to come as well.
Sellers are receiving a high percentage of their list price and the Median Sales Price has ticked up to $420k again, likely due to the low-inventory market and steady buyer demand.
Mortgage interest rates are still extremely low, and many Buyers are taking advantage. Email me today for a highly skilled and knowledgable lender recommendation.
For more information about the ins and outs of buying &/or selling real estate in today’s market, please do not hesitate to call me at 775-233-0682 or email dhallerbach@intero.com.