The Reno residential real estate market,
which felt as hot as an August night
earlier this year, might not have been so
frenetic after all.
But if anecdotal evidence counts for
anything, it's been getting there.
A new study by the federal Office of
Housing Enterprise Oversight found that
housing prices in Washoe County rose by
2.68 percent in the second quarter.While
that's well above the national average of
1.88 percent, it still ranks Reno only as
the 57th-hottest residential real estate
market in the country.
Topping the list? Yolo County in
California that's the university town of
Davis and the west suburbs of Sacramento
where housing prices rose 7.43 in the
second quarter and 15.36 during the previous
year. In second place was the
Barnstable-Yarmouth region of
Massachusetts, where housing prices during
the quarter were up 4.31 percent in
the quarter and 14.43 percent for the previous
12 months.
In the 12 months from July 2001
through the end of June, home prices in
Reno rose 7.43 percent. During the past
five years, home prices in Reno are up
23.51 percent.
Nationally, home prices were up 7.52
percent in the 12 months ended June 30.
The federal study, however, may not
have captured the summer boom for
medium-priced housing in the Reno area.
Buyers looking for a home in the
$300,000 to $500,000 range continue to
bid up prices as inventories are short, said
Pete Haugh, general manager of Re/Max
Realty Professionals.
"If it's priced right and halfway decent
list today, and you'll have a couple
of offers tomorrow," Haugh said. He
said multiple offers are common on
homes in that price range, and some
are selling over list price as potential
purchasers engage in bidding wars.
Driving the market, Haugh said, is
the combination of continued strong
migration into the state and demand
from current residents who want to
take advantage of low interest rates to
move up.
Chris Harris, broker at Keystone
Realty, called summer market "a feeding
frenzy" as high demand from moveup
and move-in buyers combined with
tight supplies.
But Harris said the market appears
to have calmed a bit since August.
Prices aren't softening, he said, only
returning to normal.
Statistics compiled by the
Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors
for May hint at the beginnings of a
faster-paced market. During that
month, the houses that sold had been
on the market, an average of 68 days. A
month earlier, homes were on the market
80 days before they sold.
The hotter market hasn't affected
homes in the $500,000-and-up range,
Haugh said. At the current rate of
sales, he estimated the inventory of
high-priced homes on the market is
enough to meet the demand for
four years.
Buyers of high-end homes, he said,
probably felt the worst pinch from the
stock market's fall.
Price appreciation in the Las Vegas
market trailed Reno, the federal study
found. Las Vegas home prices rose 1.73
percent in the second quarter and 6.2
percent for the year. The southern
Nevada city ranked 68th on the list of
hot real estate markets.
In the Pacific region, housing prices
were up 2.3 percent in the quarter and
6.7 percent of the year. This regional
increase came despite declining prices
in some markets hard-hit by the technology
slump. In San Jose, the Office
of Housing Enterprise Oversight study
found home prices had fallen by 3.72
during the past year. San Francisco
prices rose by an anemic 0.26 percent
during the past year.
The Mountain region, which
includes Nevada, posted housing prices
increases of 0.9 percent in the second
quarter and 4 percent for the past year.
In this region, too, the technology
slump dragged down some markets.
Home prices in the technology corridor
of Provo-Orem, Utah, were up only
1.06 percent for the year.
