With the Carson Valley’s meager beginning to 2009 with only 18 homes sold for the month of January, I was almost nervous to run the statistics for Carson City. And I was right. It’s not pretty.

For the month of January 2009, ten (count them – 10) homes sold. OUCH! Not a single home sold was even asking over $400,000, which reiterates the presumption that the mid and upper end markets are dead.

It’s no big surprise, but saddening nonetheless that the Carson City market continues to slide. The average per square foot price of the ten homes sold was $127. The average days on market was 227. The one bright spot is that the Sold Price as a Percentage of Asking Price tightened up a bit and was 96.37%, a full percentage point and some higher than the last three months. ‘

As of today, there are 301 homes available for sale in the Carson City area. Of the 301 homes, 46 are bank owned, and 42 are short sales. That equates to 29.2% of the market being distressed.

There is some good news here – you just have to look for it! The number of homes on the market has decreased significantly over the last three months, which will help the natural balance of supply and demand. And, even more importantly, there are currently 37 homes pending in the MLS right now. That means there are 37 sales waiting to be completed. That bodes well for the month of February and March.

January typically is the worst month of the year when it comes to home sales…In January 2008, only 22 sold. So we’re off volume-wise, but look at it this way, the worst month of the year to sell your home is behind you!

Our home sold and available for sale data is courtesy of the NNRMLS, excludes manufactured or shared ownership housing, and covers Area 200, known as Carson City.