Reno Sparks Real Estate Market for March 2008

March Market Update - Get the FACTS from Madeline!

Buyers Come Hunting for Bargains

In spite of bad news on all economic fronts, spring is the traditional buying season, and home buyers came out to snap up bargains in March. With around 100 homes a week in Reno/Sparks receiving notices of default, and 835 REO (bank owned) properties as of this writing, buyers are finding more affordable housing in the area than in the previous several years.

Morbid economic news continues to hit, and the answer to the question of "Is the United States in a recession?" seems to be a resounding "YES!". However, in our local housing market, REO properties are moving briskly and multiple offers are the norm for many of them at the moment
Surviving banks are getting smarter about marketing their REO properties, now requiring the buyer to get loan approval through their institution. Whatever the motivation, they are making back some of their losses on selling mortgages again on the same home they just foreclosed on!

Still, lenders show little inclination to negotiate with borrowers who are having difficulty making their payments. With mortgage credit and underwriting requirements squeaky tight, it is nearly impossible for home owners who are behind on their payments to refinance or to sell their homes to stave off foreclosure. Not a few buyers have experienced being told they have loan approval, only to discover in the midst of the buying process that credit has tightened, and the approval has been yanked!

Banks are desperate to rid their books of these "non-producing" loans, and are steeply discounting offering prices on REO properties. The unending flood of foreclosures entering the market is depressing all sales prices in the area and making it very difficult for home sellers to command a higher price for their well taken care of home.

All homes improved their sales in March. Condo sales rose to 82 units, an improvement of 25 over February's 57. Resale home sales rose to 225, an increase of 41 from February. However, the median sales price decreased slightly to $275,000, a drop of $4,500 or 1.6%.
The high end of the market finally also came back, with 7 resale homes selling for over $900,000 in March.

March's average sales price increased .6% to $322,238 from February's $320,406. The median sales price decreased 1.6% from February. The spread between initial asking price and sales price spread to 14.5%.

New home sales were up sharply from February's dismal numbers. Approximately 52 new homes changed hands. However, some of these homes were built back in 2006, and even 2005! (It's difficult to obtain an accurate timely accounting as recordings trickle in.) The median new home sale price decreased to approximately $315,000 and the average new home sale price decreased to about $404,956.

Soft markets equal longer times on market. The average days on multiple listing for sold homes in March stretched again to 169 days