When it comes to the Carson City real estate market for 2008, it wasn’t pretty – but it’s not all bad, either. The Carson City real estate market saw 28 sales in December, which was much better compared to November’s meager 16 sales. Carson City rounded out 2008 with 364 sales for the year, and here’s how the sales broke down month by month:

In comparison, the number of homes sold by year in Carson City looks like this:

Where’s the upside on this? Well, we’ll admit – it’s a bit hard to find if you’re a seller. However, if you’re a buyer, rejoice! As of today, there are 292 homes on the market in Carson City right now, and homes haven’t been this affordable in YEARS! Of the 292 homes on the market, 90 of them are under $200,000.

The only part of the equation we’re all waiting for is for the current banking climate to loosen up some of the coffers. Today, President-Elect Obama’s administration confirmed their plans to keep FDIC Chairwoman Sheila Bair in place. More importantly, Congress is putting conditions on how the outgoing and incoming presidential administrations use the remaining $350 Billion in rescue funds – forcing the banks who want those funds to use it to help current homeowners refinance and provide buyers with better interest rates, instead of just boosting bank capital. The measure would adopt a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. foreclosure plan, revamp the Hope for Homeowners loan-relief program that has attracted few lenders and support a Treasury program to cut rates on some fixed-rate home-loans.

If that plan comes to fruition, it will go a long way towards helping the Carson City real estate market rebound.

All data presented is as per the Northern Nevada Multiple Listing Service and excludes manufactured or shared ownership housing.