May 2024 Newsletter Reno & Sparks Local Market Stats

The Spring season was in full swing in May as you can see from all the green on the stat sheet below. It’s nice to see the graphs look a little more normal than they have as opposed to the roller coasters we have seen over the last 4 years. It’s a relief to actually see them show the seasons we go through.

Our Median Sales Price is up almost 6% Y-O-Y which is right about where we want it to be. I’d like to see us between 3 and 7% for the rest of the year. Home sellers received about $325/sq ft for their homes last month which is a little high and I’m hoping this is the top for that statistic. I’m not sure anything higher than that is healthy for our market at this time.

We had 562 new listings hit the market in May! While that’s awesome, the inventory is still flying off the shelves with only 11 days to contract. That along with 617 closed sales, our Months Supply of Inventory level is still sub 2 at 1.5 months (one of our only RED stat categories). You’ve heard me say it before, I imagine we’ll see that number rise this year. Nationwide, we are sitting at around 4 months of inventory. While we are a very unique market, we can’t sit at 1.5 forever.

 Because of the consistently low inventory, buyers can get frustrated easily. Buyers that are shopping right now are very well qualified for the most part, due to rates still being on the high side. They want to buy and they are looking day in and day out for something that they’ll love. When they find something great, chances are, we’ll be battling against multiple offers. It’s a wicked cycle that only more inventory can ease.

We are still in a seller’s market but you’ll only notice this as a seller if you price your home correctly. Even overpricing by $10,000 on a $500,000 price point will keep you on the market for an extended amount of time. Seller’s need to get eyeballs on their home. To do that, it needs to be attractive. I believe we’ll see longer time on market throughout the year because of this.

All-in-all, this market can be frustrating for both buyers and sellers even though we are in a seller’s market. Patience is going to be a virtue for anyone diving into the real estate market this year. Buyers will have to wait for the right home and hope they can win in a bidding situation. Seller’s will have to become more patient and not expect to sell in the first weekend. It’s going to be a long road to a balanced market. I will also have to be patient as I wait for that to happen.