Truckee home sales slip 23% to $274.1M in first half of ’17

TRUCKEE — The Truckee housing market cooled off in the first half of the year amid a backdrop of less demand.

Total sales of single-family homes dropped to $274.1 million in the six-month period ended June 30 from $358.6 million in the same period in 2016. That marked a decrease of 23.56 percent.

Demand also waned in the period, as the number of single-family homes sold decreased to 289 from 346. Of those sales in the first half of 2017, a total of 223 were under $1 million, while 66 were over $1 million.

At the same time, the average price of all single-family home sales dropped to $948,523 from $1,045,524 or 9.27 percent. The data includes the Tahoe Donner area, in which sales of single-family homes dipped to $72,072,500 in the first half of 2017 from $77,814,724 in the first half of 2016.

Chase International, a Lake Tahoe-based real estate agency, compiled the sales data.

Despite the decrease in dollar volume and sales activity, the Truckee housing market remains appealing to buyers, particularly those hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area.

“For what you can get for a million dollars in Truckee, you get a shack in the Bay Area,” said Sue Lowe, corporate vice president for Chase International.

“It’s very attractive to Bay Area clientele.”

She said the Truckee market has a different draw as it’s outside of the Tahoe Basin, so it doesn’t have the same restrictions imposed in that region.

“Plus, you have Martis Camp, which has just exploded in the last five years,” Lowe said of the area located along a stretch of Lodge Trail Drive. “A lot of the high-end sales are in Martis Camp.”

Buyers were also on the lookout for more affordable housing in the first half of the year, as evidenced by an increase in demand for condominiums in the Truckee market.

Total sales of condominiums climbed to $61.2 million in the six-month period ended June 30 from $58.9 million in the six-month period ended June 30, 2016. That marked an increase of 3.78 percent.

At the same time, the number of units sold rose to 117 from 109, while the average price of a condominium decreased to $522,885 from $540,779.

While overall sales of single-family residences were lower in the first half of 2017, the Truckee market was stronger than any of the four areas surrounding Lake Tahoe.

The four-pronged sales region comprises the East Shore of Lake Tahoe, Incline Village, South Shore of Lake Tahoe, and Tahoe City.

Total sales of single-family homes in Incline Village were $175.9 million in the six-month period ended June 30. The South Shore market was next up with total sales of $145.1 million.

Tahoe City followed with sales of $129.5 million and East Shore with $60.6 million.

Wyatt Haupt Jr. can be reached at 530-550-2652 or whaupt@sierrasun.com.