Things are heating up as we come out of the ski season! The inventory of South Lake Tahoe homes for sale is low, as usual for this time of year as winter rounds up and we start to get into those summer months.
Below, we will highlight some fun statistics of what is going on in the local real estate market. Additionally, we wanted to point out that as more inventory comes on in the coming months and the summer market starts to pick up, we will start to highlight some of our favorite real estate opportunities out there in the South Lake Tahoe market at the time of our post on a bi-weekly basis–or more often if there are a lot of good properties coming on. So come back and visit the blog if you are interested in seeing what is going on for hot properties.
Right now though, the hot properties seem to be all in the under $325K-350K range and the great deals have multiple offers within the first day on market. So if that is the price range you are considering, the most important thing you can do is make sure you are set up on our auto updates so you don’t miss a great property. Also, it is best that you are pre-approved if getting financing so you don’t lose time in getting your offer submitted, or lose out in a multiple offer situation by not being pre-approved by a lender. Please do not hesitate to ask us for tips on this or if you would like us to give you a list of lenders that we feel do a good job for you to interview.
Onto those market stats though! These were ran April 11, 2016, and including all homes in county neighborhoods as well, such as Meyers, Christmas Valley, North Upper Truckee, Pioneer Trail, etc.):
- Single Family Homes Overall Market: There are currently 236 South Lake Tahoe homes for sale, 93 of which are in pending with a buyer under contract.
- Under $300,000 is a different ball game entirely. There are only 12 homes available in this price range at the moment without a buyer in contract. 16 homes are in pending in this range. 28 homes total in pending and available. Making it less than a one month supply of inventory in this price range. So the competition is very stiff under $300,000 with many buyers finding themselves in multiple offer situations in this range.
In addition, we thought it would be interesting to paint an overall picture of the market appreciation year after year in a “bigger picture”. Take a look at the graph to the left to see from 2013 until now. Some were concerned as it hasn’t been drastically appreciating recently as fast as it did from 2013 to 2014. In reality, this is more what a normal market appreciation should look like. It is historically not the norm to have such drastic year over year appreciation. Then again we were coming out of one of the biggest dips we’ve seen–at least in our generation of real estate!
So when you look at it on a historical average, the last two years actually look much more realistic for healthy growth. Take a look at the statistics just going back 2 years further. 
While we are not economics majors, and are no way able to predict markets, it is a nice feeling to see “healthy” appreciation in the Tahoe basin again. Drastic appreciations (as we saw in the 2003-2005 era) can often be followed by drastic depreciation. Healthy, and hopefully more sustainable growth for the Tahoe basin is a nice change.
We will continue to keep you updated and soon will start a post called “South Lake Tahoe Homes for Sale – Market update” in the near future as inventory starts to pick up! If you are in the market for a home, keep an eye there for our favorite properties we have seen for the week. And if you are considering selling, the inventory is LOW right now, as mentioned above. It is a great time to get your home on the market–many buyers are frustrated at the lack of inventory and not enough accurately priced homes to purchase!
