35 homes sold in Carson City in August 2009 and , a 36% volume increase year over year when 42 homes sold in July 2008.

What were the key indicators for the August Carson City real estate market?

• 35 homes sold
• Average asking price is $206,399
• Average selling price is $200,551
• Average days on market was 94

And here are the stats for Carson City homes sold for September:

• 41 homes sold
• Average asking price is $260,239
• Average selling price is $248,140
• Average days on market was 126

So what is the absorption rate for Carson City?

• There are 268 homes on the market as of 10/07/09
• 41 homes sold in July
• 268/41 = 6.54 months of inventory

The absorption rate for the Carson City continues to be strong and is within 5-7 months considered a normal supply. This is a huge turnaround from the 15+ months of inventory we had on the market in February.

Of the 268 homes on the market, 26 are bank owned and 46 are short sales. That means that 26.8% of the Carson City real market is distressed. This percentage has held steady and is within just a few percentage points of February when it was 27.7%.

(Data provided courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service and excludes manufactured and shared ownership housing for Area 200, known as Carson City.)

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We had 57 home sales in Carson City in July 2009, a 36% volume increase year over year when 42 homes sold in July 2008.

Hereis a quick look at the Carson City market for July:

• 57 homes sold
• Average asking price is $221,178
• Average selling price is $212,315
• Average days on market is 147

So what is the absorption rate for Carson City?

• There are 289 homes on the market as of 8/5/09
• 57 homes sold in July
• 119/29 = 5.07 months of inventory

The absorption rate for the Carson City ontinues to be strong and is within 5-7 months considered a normal supply. This is a huge turnaround from the 15+ months of inventory we had on the market in February.

Of the 289 homes on the market, 23 are bank owned and 45 are short sales. That means that 24% of the Carson City Nevada market is distressed. This percentage has held steady and is within just a few percentage points of February when it was 27.7%.

With the first time homebuyer credit expiring on December 1, 2008, there’s a big incentive for homebuyers to get out there and buy a home. Will it be extended? Who knows??? If you’re a buyer debating buying a home right now in Northern Nevada, don’t wait for these statistics to continue to trend upward. It may just cost you the house of your dreams.

(Data provided courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service and excludes manufactured and shared ownership housing for Area 200, known as Carson City. Carson City Nevada photograph courtesy of hanneorla – Flickr.com)

A whopping 88% of the homes (or 26 homes) that sold in June went for less than $200,000, demonstrating that home affordability is back in our state’s Capitol. To further demonstrate the changing dynamic of prices in Carson City, there was not a single sale over $500,000, only one over $400,000, and three between $300,000 and $400,000. There were also three sales between $200,000 and $300,000. It’s clear that buyers simply are not interested in buying in Carson City when the price goes above $200,000.

Today there are 283 homes for sale in the Carson City area. Of the 283 homes available for sale, 21 are bank owned and 35 are short sale. That means 56 – or 19.8% – of the market is distressed.

How is the absorption rate looking for Carson City? Let’s take a look…

• Carson City currently has 283 homes on the market.
• In June, 33 homes sold
• 283 / 33 = 8.57 months

June marked a slip just outside the ‘normal’ range when considering the absorption rate. A normal market is defined as 5-7 months of inventory available for sale, determined by the absorption rate. The Carson City real estate market continues to struggle to determine it’s price floor and a steady sales volume.

(Our data is from the NNRMLS, excluding all shared ownership or manufactured housing in Area 200.)

Of the 289 homes available for sale, 33 are bank owned and 47 are short sale. That means that 80 homes are distressed, equating to 27.7% of the market. That is the sale as last month. Although the proportion of distressed homes did not decrease, it did hold steady, and is down from slightly from January. It’s too soon to call it a trend, but if this pattern holds for a couple more months, it will make the argument that the Carson City real estate market is on the mend.

Today, there are 70 properties under contract / pending in Carson City. So how does this affect the absorption rate? Let’s take a look…

• The Carson City real estate market currently has 289 homes on the market.
• In March, 30 homes sold
• 289 / 29 = 9.63 months

If the Carson City market continues to sell 30 homes a month for the next couple of months and current levels of inventory hold, Carson City may be on the road to recovery the fastest when compared with it’s neighoring towns Dayton, Gardnerville and Minden.

(Our data is from the NNRMLS, exclusing all shared ownership or manufactured housing in Area 200.)

Similar to January, 18 of the 19 homes sold were asking under $400,000. Only one sold above, and it sold for $420,000. The mid-level and upper-level markets are virtually dead in Carson City.

Today, there are 292 homes available for sale, and 56 homes are pending sale. Of the 292 homes available for sale, 81 of them are either short sale or bank-owned. That equates to 27.7% of the market being distressed. That’s actually 2% better than January.

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.

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.

The bad news is the median sales price for the month of September slid to a new low of $231, 600. That’s the lowest median sales price in the last 16 months. Price per square foot also hit an all time low as well at $155.65.

What’s the ugly, you ask?

While the number of homes on the market has dipped slightly to 307 as of today, 47 of those 307 are either bank-owned properties or short sales. That means distressed properties account for 15% of the total properties for sale in Carson City, and that’s an all time high.

The bright spot in all of this is that the number of properties on the market has reduced from one month ago by just under 50 properties. One month ago, the Carson City real estate market had 350 properties available for sale, 16 were bank owned and 33 were short sales. There were 62 properties under contract or pending. (Please see our post from September 5, 2008.) Today, inventory is down, but the number of short sales and bank-owned properties is up slightly, and the number of properties under contract or pending is 51.

This means the distressed properties are either not moving, or additional distressed properties continue to hit the market. Upon further examination, we found that 11 properties that sold in September were distressed. As long as we continue to see distressed properties come onto the market in Carson City, it will continue to be difficult for values to stabilize.

Gimme some good news, please! It’s a great time to be a buyer! Prices are way down, interest rates are reasonable, and despite what the media may have you believe, loans are still readily available. All you need to do is consider the late 1970′s, when interest rates were in the 16-17% range. People still bought and sold real estate. Historically, when the market produces a barrier to entry (like high interest rates), opportunities always present themselves. We are seeing more and more owners who are willing to provide financing to buyers who would otherwise not be able to obtain a loan, for some reason or another. What if you want to buy a property and owner financing is not available? Look to your regional banks and mortgage brokers to assist you in obtaining a loan. In most cases, regional banks and mortgage brokers were more conservative during the ‘exotic loan years’ and because of this, managed to shield themselves from losses associated with those exotic and unrealistic loans. They are not affected by the credit crunch affecting most larger, national banks today.

If you have questions about the real estate market, ask us. We can help you navigate the market and help you consider all your options, even if you’re not planning to buy or sell right away.

There are 62 properties under contract or pending sale in Carson City. Of those 62, 9 are REO’s and 19 are short sales. Since REO’s are easier to negotiate, since it is typically one bank and one buyer, it makes sense that they are selling more quickly than the short sales. Short sales involve multiple parties, and potentially more than one bank, and thus are significantly more difficult to get through to close of escrow. If inventory levels of REO’s and short sales do not increase, then we have approximately 3 months of inventory of distressed properties remaining in the market. However, due to economic uncertainty and the current credit-crunch – which affects buyer’s ability to qualify and bank’s desire to lend – we anticipate more dark clouds ahead in the Carson City real estate market, and Northern Nevada as a whole.

So – What does this chart mean? Well, if we take a closer look at the median sales price column, you’ll see that although there have been some dips from month to month, it looks as though overall, the median sales price for Carson City real estate is holding steady. We won’t know for sure for several more months, but it appears that Carson City hit it’s low in April 2008, when the median sales price was $235,000.

What homes are selling and in what price ranges? Here is the breakdown for August:

61% of the Carson City homes sold in August sold for under $299,000. When will prices start to trend back up? In order for prices to stabilize, the market needs to absorb the distressed properties, which are deflating prices. The distressed properties are the bank-owned foreclosures (REO’s) and short sales. Next post, we’ll answer the question: Just how many REO’s and short sales are there in Carson City?