An overview of March's real estate stats for the Reno market, compared to the previous month.
Courtesy: RSAR
After setting record-high median home prices in December — including Reno reaching the $500,000 mark for the first time ever — the Greater Reno-Sparks housing market cooled slightly the first two months of 2021.
But it sure did close out the first quarter with a bang.
The median sales price for an existing single-family residence in the Reno market (which includes North Valleys) came in at $515,000 for March 2021, setting another all-time record, according to new statistics released Wednesday, April 7, by the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors.
According to a press release provided on behalf of the group, March’s $515,000 mark for Reno represented a 19.8% increase from March 2020 and a 10.8% increase from February 2021’s median price of $465,000.
Meanwhile, the Sparks market (which includes Spanish Springs) also saw a record-high median price in March at $446,718; that’s a 14.8% uptick from a year ago and a 7% increase from February 2021’s mark of $416,000.Of note, Sparks previously also set a record high in December at $405,000.
Putting the greater Reno-Sparks region together as a whole, the median sold price in March came in at $485,000 — that’s up 16.9% from March 2021 and up 7.8% from February’s mark of $450,000.
“Demand remains exceptionally strong,” Gary MacDonald, 2021 RSAR president, said in a statement, “Homes are on the market in Reno and Sparks for an average of only 18 days between the time they are listed and the time a contract is signed, which compares with 34 days a year ago.”The price increase is aided in part due to an increase in "bidding wars" in the region, ac
cording to the April 7 press release, considering that "many homes in Reno and Sparks are selling for more than their listed price."Also of note, according to RSAR, the 592 new listings reported in March "improved inventories and hinted that the market may be coming into better balance."
As for the record-high median prices, they represent massive increases from just a few years ago — and even bigger rises from the depths of the Great Recession.
According to historical data compiled by Reno Realtor Guy Johnson on his blog, Reno Realty Blog — the stats of which are derived from the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service — March 2021’s regional median price of $485,000 represents a 203% increase from 10 years ago, when the median price came in at $160,000 in March 2011.
Since the start of the century, the Reno-Sparks median price bottomed out at $135,000 in January 2012; comparing that figure to March 2021, it’s a 259% increase.
Over the past five years, meanwhile, the median home price in Reno-Sparks in March 2016 came in at $295,000; that equates to a 64% increase.
As for other key figures from March 2021, RSAR on April 7 reported the following:- Reno/Sparks as a whole recorded 459 sales of existing single-family homes, a decrease of 11.4% from last year and a 19.5% increase from the previous month.
- 293 of those sales occurred in the Reno/North Valleys market, a decrease of 21% from last year and a 11% increase from February.
- 166 of those sales were in Sparks/Spanish Springs, up 12.9% from March 2020 and up 38.3% from the previous month.
- The median sales price of an existing condominium/townhome in greater Reno/Sparks was $245,000, up 2.3% from last year and down 3.2% from February’s regional mark of $253,500.
- In Reno/North Valleys, the median condo price was $247,450, a decrease of 2.5% from last year and down 19.8% from February’s mark of $308,582.
- In Sparks/Spanish Springs, the median condo price was $239,000, an increase of 3.9% from last year and down 1.4% from $242,500 last month.
RSAR also covers the Fernley market; in March, 59 home were sold there, representing an 18% increase from last year and a 22.9% increase from February, according to the April 7 report.
The median condo price in Fernley came in at $320,000, up 14.2% from last year and a 1.2% increase from the previous month.
RSAR’s monthly reports include information derived from the Northern Nevada Regional MLS. Go to rsar.net/market-monitors for full monthly insights.
