I received a request from a reader to provide the latest sales numbers for condos in the Reno - Sparks market.  Happy to oblige.

January’s condo sales were lighter than in recent months, and as we saw with the SFR numbers for January, price per square foot hit a new low.  At $51.70/square foot, January’s ppsf is 75 percent off of the high of $209.42 reached in May 2007.  Similarly, January’s median sold condo price of $56,500 is off 77 percent from the high of $244,900 reached in January 2007.   Yes, that is a 77 percent drop in three years!

One of the driving factors for this decline is the high percentage of distressed properties comprising the condo market — higher even than the proportion seen in the SFR market.  Looking at the most recent sales, the breakout is:

• bank-owned: 61%
• short sales: 22%
• non-distressed sales: 16%

Note: The median home price data reported above covers the cities of Reno, Nevada and Sparks, Nevada [NNRMLS Area #100]. Data includes Condo/Townhouse properties only. Data excludes Site/Stickbuilt, Manufactured/Modular and Shared Ownership properties. Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS - February 2010

Just an FYI; I received the Washoe County recordings (new home sales, re-sales, and re-fis) from Ticor Title.  I’ve added the chart to Tuesday’s post.  See Ticor Title charts for January

I received the handout below from a lender friend of mine.  I realize I have recently posted changes to FHA’s lending policies, but this handout concisely summarizes the recent changes quite nicely.  Plus, it doesn’t hurt repeating in case it may have been missed the first time around.

New FHA guidelines in a nutshell:

• Increased upfront mortgage insurance premiums
• Higher FICO scores required
• Reduced seller concessions
• No more “90-day flipping rule”

Click on the doc below to enlarge…

Not that all the upper end properties in Incline Village are all starting to look like the lower end properties at Woodland Village, but the NODs this last week or so are worth mentioning:

-  517 Fairview went NOD on a $4,800,000 loan on a missed March 2008 payment.  This is Reynen of R&B, so it has been tied up in BK court for a while.

-  951 Divot when NOD on a $4,100,000 loan with an October 2009 missed payment.

-  831 Lakeshore went NOD on a $2,400,000 loan with a October 2009 missed payment.

-  592 Dyer went NOD on a $1,00,000 loan.  Sorry, no photo on the Assessor’s site.  Purchased for $940,000 April 2003.  Missed October 2009 payment.

-  361 Country Club went NOD on a $965,000 loan with an October 2009 missed payment.

Except for Reynen, these are real time new defaults in the over a Mil strata in Incline.  I’m interested in what conclusions you readers will draw.

Yesterday I posted the monthly median numbers and noted that January’s median sold price plunged more than five percent from December’s median sold price.  After seven months of relatively flat monthly median sold prices, one has to wonder if January’s drop was a seasonal blip? Or does it portend the beginning of a “double dip”?

Where prices go from here only time will tell; however that doesn’t stop the topic from being discussed throughout the day.  After reading yesterday’s post a colleague asked me what I thought was the cause of January’s price drop.  At the risk of stating the obvious I replied, “more houses being sold for prices below the previous month’s median”.  “But where are these lower-priced sales occurring?”, she asked.  A good question; and one that doesn’t get answered when looking at the median sales price for Reno and Sparks as a whole.

So, I broke out January’s 334 sales by MLS area.  The sales occurred across 35 MLS areas. However, as seen in the table below, some areas contained a much higher proportion of sales than others.  In fact, from a distribution standpoint, just seven areas accounted for nearly half the month’s sales.

The table below shows January’s sales by MLS area.  For the ten areas with the most sales I have also calculated January’s median sales price.

UPDATE February 10, 2010 - I’ve filled out the remaining median prices in the table below and also added a column for median sold price per square foot.  Decide for yourselve where the data is too thin to be meaningful.

As seen above Stead holds the top spot for highest number of January sales – more than ten percent of sales for the month.  This is consistent with 2009 overall numbers.  See related post: 2009 sales by MLS area

For the Reno-Sparks MLS Area Map, click here.

Note: The data in the table above includes Site/Stick Built properties only. Data excludes Condo/Townhouse, Manufactured/Modular and Shared Ownership properties. Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS - February 2010.

Click on the chart below to see the Washoe County recording statistics showing notices of default, notices of sale, and trustee’s deed for the month of January.  Data presented by our friends at Ticor Title.

As the other monthly charts from Ticor Title arrive I will add them to this post.

[UPDATE: February 12, 2010]  I’ve just received the Washoe County Market Stats from Ticor Title.  Click on the chart below to see January’s recordings of new home sales, re-sales, and re-fis.  Note the new low for new home sales.

Ouch!  January’s numbers took a big plunge.  January’s median sold price dropped to $167,000.  That’s more than five percent off of December’s median sold price.

Similarly, the median sold price per square foot also experienced a large decline.  January’s $97.06 per square foot represents a four percent drop from December’s number, and also the first time we’ve seen the sold price per square foot fall below the $100 mark.

FWIW, January’s $97.06/square foot represents a 56 percent fall from the peak sold price per square foot of $223.06 reached in October 2005.  The latest median sold price of $167,000 is off 54 percent from the median high of $365,000 reached in January 2006.

To look at it another way, today’s median price of $167,000 has returned to 2001 levels.

The make-up of January’s sales is as follows:

• Bank-owned properties – 40%  
• Short sales – 35%  
• Equity sales – 24%

Short sale closings bumped up from 30 percent of December sales to 35 percent of sales in January.  Hopefully, this indicates quicker turnaround times for short sale transactions going forward.

For those readers who prefer the median sold price for houses and condos combined, January’s combined median sold price was $159,400; down 2.8 percent from December’s combined median of $164,000.

Note: The medians table above is updated on a monthly basis. The median home price data reported covers the cities of Reno, Nevada and Sparks, Nevada [NNRMLS Area #100]. Residential data includes Site/Stick Built properties only. Data excludes Condo/Townhouse, Manufactured/Modular and Shared Ownership properties. Data courtesy of the Northern Nevada Regional MLS - February 2010.

The Reno Sparks Association of REALTORS^® has published their year-end market reports for the Reno-Sparks and Fernley housing markets.

Click here for the Reno Year End 2009 Market Report.
Click here for the Fernley Year End 2009 Market Report.

Some points from the Reno report:

• Reno’s median price for year end 2009 was $185,000 down 26% from 2008.
• For the seven month period May 2009 – December 2009, prices have remained stable.
• The median home price is in line with the median household income in recent months for the first time since 2002.

In an effort to improve the wait times for the short sale approval process, Bank of America has named a new executive in charge of short sales and REOs.  From the press release: CALABASAS, Calif. – Matt Vernon, a 15-year veteran of the financial industry, has been named short sale and real estate owned (REO) executive for Bank of America Home Loans, moving to the loan servicing division from roles in the bank’s residential mortgage origination business.
 
In his new position, Vernon will develop and implement initiatives to manage and streamline the bank’s efforts to use short sales and other property liquidation tools to prevent foreclosures and oversee the management and marketing of properties in the bank’s real estate owned portfolio.

I guess it can’t hurt.

See the entire press release here: Matt Vernon Focuses on Efficient Service in New Role of Short Sale and REO Executive for Bank of America Home Loans

 -  January NOD/NOS/TD Figures - NODs totaled 778, up from 763 in December, basically pretty steady for the last 4 months.  NOSs totaled 394, up from 366 in  December, but again, generally even with the last four month average.  TDs fell to 190 from 221 in  December, the lowest total we’ve seen since April 2008.  I’ll resume my graph next month (note to self - free trials of Office 2007 will erase your old programs).

-  The first 3 days of February are off to a blazing start, with 182 NODs, 75 NOSs, and 25 TDs filed.  A large number of the NODs are from missed payments over a year ago.  There seems to be a pretty direct relationship between the amount owed and how long the lenders are waiting to foreclose (though BK filings by the wealthier contribute to this).

-  The amount owing on the NODs is trending up rather dramatically.  Of the 54 NODs filed today, 6 were for over $1,000,000 (3 in IV, 2 ArrowCreekish, and 1 Caughlin).  Another 8 or so were in excess of $500,000.

-  Dine and Dash - No one really knows how many people are purchasing a new, cheaper home before defaulting on their underwater residences, but I can assure you that from my research that these are not isolated occurrences anymore.  Most of the cases I have run into to have been average Joe’s who wouldn’t generally have the real estate savvy to execute these deals.  I believe they are being "coached". 

- TD to TD - There are people losing properties at Trustee’s Sales that are turning around and BUYING properties on the courthouse steps for cash, sometimes within a week or two.  This is not wide spread yet, but is raising my blood pressure to apoplectic levels.  The lenders need to get off their boney asses, do some due diligence,  and start setting some very public examples that fraud is not acceptable.  Give me deficiency judgments!  Give me public humiliation, flogging on Victorian Square, the Scarlett R.  100%, each, every, ALL of the cases I have found of people losing properties then turning around and paying CASH for Trustee’s Deeds are all in the industry.  That’s RE brokers, agents, bankers, developers, title and mortgage folks.

I’m just not in an "up" mood for Reno tonight.