Reno market projected to decline 5% in 2012

Reno appeared on a couple more lists yesterday. Unfortunately neither list is particularly good news.

The first is a list of the top 10 U.S. metro areas with the greatest year-over-year median home-value declines. The list of metros was compiled by Inman News using Zillow’s Home Value Index and ranked metro areas by greatest percentage drop. The top ten are…

  1. Gainesville, Fla. -17.2%
  2. Atlanta, Ga. -14.7%
  3. Medford, Ore. -14.2%
  4. Chico, Calif. -14.0%
  5. Mobile, Ala. -12.8%
  6. Tucson, Ariz. -12.7%
  7. Ocala, Fla. -12.7%
  8. Madera, Calif. -12.3%
  9. Santa Barbara, Calif. -12.0%
  10. Reno, Nev. -11.8%

See the Inman News piece here: 10 US metros with largest drops in real estate values

The other list is from Veros Real Estate Solutions. Yesterday Veros released its real estate market forecast for the 12-month period ending December 1, 2012. An accompanying press release noted the projected five strongest and weakest markets for 2012. Unfortunately Reno, Nevada was one of the projected five weakest markets…

Projected Five Weakest Markets

  1. Bakersfield, CA -6.8%
  2. Reno/Sparks, NV -5.7%
  3. Las Vegas/Paradise, NV -5.3%
  4. Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA -5.2%
  5. Fresno, CA -5.2%

source: VeroFORECAST

Click on the .pdf below to access the full press release.

Posted in Market Trends | Tagged | 1 Comment

Why Reno

If you haven’t seen it yet, there’s a nicely done promotional video about Reno, Nevada getting a lot of airplay on the internet. Released a couple weeks ago the video already has over 11,000 views on YouTube.

Titled “Why I Love Reno”, this ten-minute video was professionally produced out-of-pocket by Tim Ruffin, a managing partner of the Colliers International office in Reno. See the story here: ‘Why I Love Reno’ draws attention from YouTube viewers

Check out the video below and then let us know, What do you like best about Reno?

Posted in Entertainment, General, Reno | Tagged | 15 Comments

Economic development in Nevada

Here’s an informative piece from the magazine, Nevada Business, discussing new business development throughout the state: Economic Development – The New Plan

If you were not aware, some major projects in the works include: a 462,000 square-foot facility for Urban Outfitters in Reno; a 130,000 square-foot facility for Now Foods in Sparks; and Zappos.com relocating to Las Vegas.

And in case you missed it in yesterday’s RGJ, did you know that Reno and Sparks are part of the Sierra Pacific megapolitan region? “What’s a ‘megapolitan region’?” you may ask. [I didn't know either.] Read In megapolitan world, Reno hitches star to Bay Area to find out why this is a good thing for the Reno area (and to maybe add a new word to your vocabulary).

Posted in Developers, News | 6 Comments

2011 by the numbers

Happy New Year!

Let’s take a look at the housing market numbers for 2011.

5,839 houses were sold for the year. This total is up nearly nine percent from the 5,359 houses sold in 2010. It also represents the most number of sales since the peak bubble year of 2005 when 6,072 houses were sold. Units-wise, 2011 was a very good year.

On the other hand, the median sales price for 2011 was $154,000. This represents a 10.7 percent decline from 2010′s median sale price of $172,500. And represents a 55 percent fall from 2005′s median sale price of $342,000. Will we look back at 2011 as the year when the bottom (in terms of median sales price) was reached? Only time will tell, but since hitting a low of $148,250 in October, the median has continued to climb. [Stay tuned for more details when I post December's numbers.]

2011′s median sold price per square foot came in at $88.66/sq.ft. — a 10.6 percent decrease from 2010′s median sold ppsf of $99.13.

The median size of the houses sold in 2011? 1,711 square feet.

2011′s median list price was $156,500. As with the median sales price, median list was similarly down 10.7 percent from 2010′s median list (of $175,230).

Average days on market came in at 136 days. This number was unchanged from 2010.

REO’s (bank-owned) sales comprised the largest sales type for 2011 — accounting for more than 36 percent of total sales. Although REO sales were up from 2010, look for this to change in 2012 due to the effects of AB284. 2011 sales by type were:

  • REO sales: 36% – up from 2010’s 32%
  • Short sales: 31% – down from 2010’s 35%
  • Equity sales: 31% – down from 2010’s 32%

Broken out by price band, the 2011 sales look like…

sales price ($000′s) units sold
0 – 99 1,031
100 – 199 3,015
200 – 299 1,088
300 – 399 348
400 – 499 144
500 – 599 75
600 – 699 40
700 – 799 20
800 – 899 16
900 – 999 19
1M+ 43
total 5,839

If you would like to see any other housing market metrics for 2011 as a whole, let me know.

Lastly, recall that the winner of the “Guess the Medians” contest will be revealed next week.

Note: The median home price data reported above 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 – January 2012.
Note: This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

Posted in Market Trends | Tagged | 1 Comment

Endings

>- Default Activity – Here are the December and year end figures: NODs soared almost 100%. Sort of. 28 NODs were recorded, up from 15 in November and 14 in October when AB 284 took effect. 4606 NODs were filed in Washoe County this year, down from 8504 in 2010 and 10,305 in 2009. They would have ended up about 6500 had they stayed on their pace prior to AB 284. NOSs ticked up to 401 in December from 382 in November, and down from 441 in October. NOSs totaled 5668 in 2011, down from 7213 in 2010 and 6480 in 2009, just about 2008 levels. TDs continued in a tight range, with 223 in December, 233 in November and 210 in October. 3558 TDs were recorded in 2011, trending upwards from 3399 in 2010, 3361 in 2009. The chart is HERE. If you are interested in the raw data set since 2007, click THERE.

- AB 284 – It has now been 3 months since NODs virtually stopped due to the enactment of AB 284. Since it takes a minimum of 4 months to go from NOD to a Trustee’s Sale, we should start to see its impact on REO inventory by February. Is there enough shadow inventory out there to fill the void? Will short sale listings soar as the banks try to circumvent the foreclosure process?

- Rising Tides – Who bought Kiley Ranch? REreno knows!

- Lear Theater – Ownership was transferred to Artown today. Whoo Haw! Finally someone might be able to resuscitate this Reno treasure. Artown will move their administrative offices to an adjoining building, and convert the Lear into a community art center. A theater does not seem to be in the cards at this time.

-NRES – I’ve updated the spread sheet on their activity one last time HERE. The have now bought 450 properties since their Trustee’s Sale spree started in December 2008, and have even started to repeat themselves. They bought 1656 Spring Vista for $165,693 in December 2008, sold it for $243,900 in January 2009, and just bought it again for $155,100 in November 2011. Their gross margin seems to be slipping a bit and their activity slowing on both the buy and sell sides. I have to give them credit – they are making bank at places I thought were dead ends like Rancho San Rafael, Fleur de Lis, and Fallen Leaf. They seem to be spinning off some of their really low-end homes and condos into a rental branch PV1. They generally stick to low-end, entry-level homes, but swung for the fences on a couple of purchases in the last few months, 2279 Applewood,756 Joyce, and 2170 White’s Creek aka 14160 Torvinen. I think it is important to note that NRES and the other TD flippers represent over 10% of all monthly sales reported by the MLS and show up in Guy’s stats as “equity sales”. Owner occupied equity sales are really in the dumps.

And that’s the end. After close to 300 posts (if you count the ones that got expunged!), my time on RRB has drawn to a close. I take a lot of pride in the fact that NEVER ONCE have I had to retract an item over factual errors. I’ve broken a lot of stories here that scooped the local media on what was happening the market, and the Siena post was actually picked up nationally. I cherish the actual and virtual friendships that have come about from my writings here on RRB. You, as well as my equally cherished critics, have educated me to a level that I could have never imagined. I hope that my contributions over the last 4 years on RRB have been somewhat equitable to all you have taught and given me.

And to quote Monty Python, “I’m, not dead yet”. If you are interested in my voice and hard-core Reno real estate news, you can continue to follow my musings at www.rereno.com.

Mike

Posted in General | 5 Comments

Which remodeling projects offer the most return on investment?

Remodeling’s annual Cost vs. Value report for 2011-2012 has just been released. The national report is broken out by region and compares the average cost for 35 popular remodeling projects with the value those projects provide at resale. Projects are also broken out between “midrange” and “upscale” home improvements.

Exterior replacement projects have routinely rewarded home owners with more bang for their buck, and this year is no exception – with exterior replacement projects comprising seven of the top 10 most cost-effective projects nationally in terms of value recouped.
See the top seven projects here: 7 Best Remodeling Projects for the Money
See Remodeling’s full Cost vs. Value report for 2011-2012 here.

Posted in Properties | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Nationally, no turnaround in home prices anticipated in 2012

The results from a recent survey of more than 100 economists, real estate experts and investment strategists asking each participant to project the path of the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index over the next five years show a wide range of answers.

Some participants foresee a turnaround in 2013; others not until 2015. But most agree, it will not occur in 2012. See Inman News’ story: Home prices may keep sliding into 2012

When do you think a turnaround will occur?

Posted in News | Tagged | 17 Comments

Property search functionality is working again

Thank you to all who alerted me to the fact that the blog’s property search functionality was not working. The issue has been resolved.

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