November median sold price, units, DOM, $/sq.ft.

I usually wait until we’re at least a week into a new month before I post the median numbers for the prior month, but with a few readers commenting that this blog’s activity has been waning of late, I decided to post November’s numbers today. Happy Monday!

So, what do we have…

November’s median sold price of $150,000 rose 1.0 percent over October’s sold median of $148,500. Similarly, November’s median sold price per square foot (ppsf) of $85.23/sf rose 1.0 percent over October’s $84.35/sf. November is the second consecutive month of increasing sold ppsf. Will this trend continue? If the amount of REO inventory begins to decrease, as many have predicted due to the effects of AB 284, then sold price per square foot should continue to increase because REO sales generally represent the low end of the ppsf range. Eliminating that segment of sales should boost median sold price per square foot, an possibly the median sale price, as well.

Units sold continue to be robust tallying 464 houses sold during November. Not only does November 2011’s number represent a 16.6 percent increase over November 2010’s 398 units sold, but 464 units sold sets a new high for number of sales in any November on record – surpassing even the bubble years. And I thought sales typically slowed this time of year.

For the second consecutive month the average days on market (DOM) came in at 146 days. This is a slightly higher number than we’ve topically observed this year [YTD average DOM is 135 days].

The number of Active listings continue to slide. The current 1,545 Active listings represent an 8.1 percent decline from October’s number (which itself was an 18 percent decline from September’s Active inventory). This decline in inventory is to be expected this time of year, and usually is not noteworthy because house buying activity (i.e. Pending sales) typically slows in concert. However, Pendings, though down slightly (barely 1 percent) from last month have not been falling as sharply. In fact, the numbers I’m posting today marks the first time that the number of pending sales actually exceeds the number of houses currently listed.

What will this greater demand vs. lower supply mean to home prices? The last time I brought up the subject (see Looming inventory problem in Reno-Sparks?) a spirited thread of comments and opinions ensued. Perhaps, the conversation will continue with this post. And just to preemptively clarify my position: I agree that a shortage of supply of available inventory can not increase a potential homebuyer’s purchasing power, or in other words, what he or she is able to afford. However, a shortage of supply of inventory can certainly increase what a potential homebuyer is wiling to pay for a property. Furthermore this willingness/ability to pay more for a property is not a luxury limited to “cash buyers”. Seldom do I see my clients, who are financing their purchases, max out their purchase for the full amount for which they have been qualified to finance. Most choose a property priced at level below their max.

November sales by type break out as follows (below). At this time REOs still comprise over a third of the market’s monthly sales. The effects of AB 284 are not yet showing up in sales numbers, but remember the bill just went into effect October 1st, and average DOM for properties is nearly five months (see above). So, expect a lag before any effects from the bill are seen in final sales numbers.

  • REO sale: 35% – up from October’s 33%
  • Short sales: 36% – up from October’s 32%
  • Equity sales: 29% – down from October’s 33%

November sales by price band break out as follows:

sales price ($000’s) units sold
0 – 99 79
100 – 199 254
200 – 299 86
300 – 399 17
400 – 499 12
500 – 599 7
600 – 699 3
700 – 799 0
800 – 899 3
900 – 999 1
1M+ 2
total 482

For those readers who prefer the median sold price for houses and condos combined, November’s 541 sold houses, condos and town homes exhibited a combined median sold price of $139,000 – UP 2.2 percent from October’s combined median of $136,000 for 576 sales.

Historical data follows:

Month Year # Sold Sold Price Sold Price per Sq Ft Average DOM # of Listings # of Pendings
Nov 2011 464 $150,000 $85.23 146 1,545 1,635
Oct 2011 491 $148,500 $84.35 146 1,682 1,646
Sep 2011 567 $150,000 $83.62 134 2,044 1,967
Aug 2011 554 $154,000 $91.34 125 1,947 1,694
July 2011 511 $150,000 $87.59 128 2,028 1,667
June 2011 538 $154,000 $90.12 123 1,990 1,689
May 2011 509 $150,000 $88.66 133 1,968 1,682
Apr 2011 436 $156,125 $89.78 137 1,914 1,593
Mar 2011 511 $160,000 $91.59 132 1,906 1,497
Feb 2011 387 $161,000 $93.35 142 1,882 1,416
Jan 2011 365 $157,000 $92.35 152 1,970 1,329
Dec 2010 485 $165,000 $94.31 143 2,021 1,148
Nov 2010 398 $170,000 $96.43 139 2,060 1,376
Oct 2010 418 $174,950 $98.57 135 2,146 1,371
Sep 2010 467 $168,000 $97.52 132 2,186 1,473
Aug 2010 450 $180,000 $97.54 127 2,222 1,513
Jul 2010 415 $180,000 $101.84 128 2,158 1,580
Jun 2010 602 $170,000 $100.52 145 1,966 1,625
May 2010 450 $175,807 $102.37 138
Apr 2010 510 $179,995 $103.13 128
Mar 2010 477 $175,000 $99.14 141
Feb 2010 338 $170,000 $101.68 138
Jan 2010 346 $167,000 $97.06 134
Dec 2009 424 $178,000 $101.28 126
Nov 2009 461 $175,000 $103.61 112
Oct 2009 561 $180,000 $103.52 123
Sep 2009 520 $185,948 $103.31 128
Aug 2009 482 $179,900 $102.64 116
Jul 2009 515 $180,000 $103.45 126
Jun 2009 536 $180,317 $104.09 136
May 2009 426 $175,000 $102.29 139
Apr 2009 429 $190,000 $105.71 133
Mar 2009 369 $200,000 $105.85 133
Feb 2009 293 $205,000 $111.52 132
Jan 2009 233 $200,000 $113.04 117
Dec 2008 294 $218,950 $121.74 145
Nov 2008 269 $220,000 $122.24 152
Oct 2008 354 $230,000 $131.43 144
Sep 2008 358 $239,250 $136.72 145
Aug 2008 321 $250,000 $142.14 140
Jul 2008 397 $251,000 $145.48 139
Jun 2008 369 $262,500 $148.05 142
May 2008 314 $260,215 $152.30 134
Apr 2008 314 $275,000 $154.05 172
Mar 2008 238 $274,000 $150.93 166
Feb 2008 195 $289,000 $156.48 149
Jan 2008 165 $285,000 $170.23 146
Dec2007 228 $283,950 $167.22 143
Nov2007 204 $299,750 $172.24 126
Oct2007 241 $296,000 $173.55 116
Sep2007 230 $299,945 $179.46 114
Aug2007 311 $305,000 $182.49 118
Jul2007 300 $315,000 $189.78 113
Jun2007 329 $320,000 $196.78 104
May2007 364 $313,200 $190.81 107
Apr2007 320 $309,500 $193.93 121
Mar2007 324 $315,000 $189.61 121
Feb 2007 269 $315,000 $191.18 126
Jan 2007 245 $312,900 $199.79 133
Dec2006 291 $309,000 $193.51 114
Nov2006 281 $318,000 $197.32 111
Oct 2006 363 $312,400 $201.44 105
Sep2006 344 $314,950 $198.08 98
Aug2006 349 $325,000 $210.92 94
Jul2006 373 $335,000 $210.62 93
Jun2006 424 $339,000 $214.54 91
May2006 374 $339,950 $219.05 99
Apr2006 368 $334,600 $212.08 88
Mar2006 387 $340,000 $215.54 99
Feb 2006 283 $335,000 $217.29 101
Jan 2006 274 $365,000 $216.38 98
Dec2005 333 $355,000 $217.31 89
Nov2005 385 $349,000 $220.00 81
Oct2005 484 $359,450 $223.06 77
Sep2005 531 $354,500 $219.26 77
Aug2005 582 $360,500 $220.52 73
Jul2005 608 $353,000 $218.99 71
Jun2005 679 $350,000 $215.69 69
May2005 644 $333,250 $209.95 68
Apr2005 558 $326,750 $207.57 77
Mar2005 584 $325,000 $200.17 81
Feb 2005 342 $318,500 $197.54 88
Jan 2005 341 $310,000 $195.19 85
Dec2004 450 $312,500 $190.72 77
Nov2004 448 $309,950 $191.62 63
Oct2004 512 $299,250 $188.72 53
Sep2004 496 $292,750 $185.78 61
Aug2004 505 $285,000 $182.95 56
Jul2004 544 $304,300 $179.28 61
Jun2004 533 $285,000 $172.16 65
May2004 476 $278,750 $169.64 65
Apr2004 526 $259,950 $158.08 67
Mar2004 508 $245,000 $142.56 71
Feb 2004 365 $237,000 unavailable 81
Jan 2004 380 $228,500 unavailable 78
Dec2003 441 $240,000 unavailable 82
Nov2003 444 $220,750 unavailable 78
Oct2003 430 $219,880 unavailable 76
Sep2003 587 $223,000 unavailable 71
Aug2003 512 $220,000 unavailable 75
Jul2003 533 $210,000 unavailable 77
Jun2003 475 $207,000 unavailable 77
May2003 450 $198,950 unavailable 85
Apr2003 478 $197,750 unavailable 82
Mar 2003 428 $192,000 unavailable 77
Feb 2003 321 $186,895 unavailable 79
Jan 2003 316 $186,000 unavailable 96
Dec 2002 379 $193,500 unavailable 93
Nov 2002 423 $190,000 unavailable 82
Oct 2002 483 $189,900 unavailable 83
Sep 2002 410 $174,000 unavailable 85
Aug 2002 459 $180,000 unavailable 74
Jul 2002 469 $176,000 unavailable 83
Jun 2002 445 $185,000 unavailable 80
May 2002 470 $178,450 unavailable 77
Apr 2002 360 $169,500 unavailable 93
Mar 2002 377 $169,000 unavailable 84
Feb 2002 323 $170,900 unavailable 89
Jan 2002 269 $172,475 unavailable 99
Dec 2001 287 $182,000 unavailable 86
Nov 2001 323 $161,500 unavailable 85
Oct 2001 357 $166,500 unavailable 79
Sep 2001 355 $168,000 unavailable 81
Aug 2001 448 $160,350 unavailable 84
Jul 2001 433 $169,900 unavailable 90
Jun 2001 426 $166,225 unavailable 96
May 2001 404 $162,050 unavailable 97
Apr 2001 370 $158,750 unavailable 94
Mar 2001 385 $159,900 unavailable 97
Feb 2001 297 $159,950 unavailable 104
Jan 2001 264 $165,000 unavailable 102
Dec 2000 272 $156,500 unavailable 100
Nov 2000 355 $154,500 unavailable 93
Oct 2000 348 $153,000 unavailable 98
Sep 2000 356 $160,000 unavailable 104
Aug 2000 412 $163,375 unavailable 94
Jul 2000 368 $155,000 unavailable 110
Jun 2000 466 $165,845 unavailable 104
May 2000 363 $158,000 unavailable 105
Apr 2000 312 $155,000 unavailable 113
Mar 2000 339 $162,700 unavailable 102
Feb 2000 248 $148,000 unavailable 108
Jan 2000 223 $156,000 unavailable 113
Dec 1999 264 $155,000 unavailable 118
Nov 1999 293 $149,900 unavailable 98
Oct 1999 289 $147,895 unavailable 108
Sep 1999 311 $157,000 unavailable 106
Aug 1999 360 $148,500 unavailable 112
Jul 1999 375 $147,800 unavailable 105
Jun 1999 372 $150,000 unavailable 103
May 1999 307 $145,500 unavailable 106
Apr 1999 324 $151,700 unavailable 111
Mar 1999 308 $151,000 unavailable 121
Feb 1999 249 $148,900 unavailable 120
Jan 1999 210 $143,000 unavailable 115
Dec 1998 265 $140,000 unavailable 118
Nov 1998 280 $152,800 unavailable 126
Oct 1998 286 $142,825 unavailable 115
Sep 1998 279 $144,500 unavailable 102
Aug 1998 331 $145,000 unavailable 113
Jul 1998 335 $150,000 unavailable 108
Jun 1998 351 $148,500 unavailable 103
May 1998 302 $145,500 unavailable 99
Apr 1998 235 $149,000 unavailable 111
Mar 1998 267 $142,500 unavailable 114
Feb 1998 201 $139,900 unavailable 126
Jan 1998 167 $149,490 unavailable 129

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 – December 2011. Note: This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

10 comments

  1. skeptical

    Bull, bear, agnostic, doesn’t member. These are generally positive numbers. Two questions, though, are begging to be answered:

    1) Is this the beginning of a trend, a leveling of the descent, or a waypoint enroute to a lower equilibrium?

    2) The elephant in the room: When will this foreclosure issue be resolved, and how will its resolution effect the market?

    At the risk of sounding like the master of the obvious, I believe that a re-opening of the foreclosure floodgates (if that happens) will have a negative effect on median prices. On the other hand, forestalling the resolution of all those limbo (defaulted) properties cannot be good for the real estate market in the near to mid-term.

  2. Norton

    “When will thsi foreclosure issue be resolved?”
    No time soon. With each passing month, the unfortunate consequences of AB 284 will become more apparent. The market needs to cleanse itself by finally processing out all the foreclosures. AB 284 has now resulted in an effective halt to the market’s cleansing. I attended a service club luncheon just a few days ago and a local member of the Nevada Legislature was present. He said the law enacted by AB 284 cannot be amended until 2013. He said it is possible that perhaps as many 5,000 foreclosures in Washoe County will be put on hold over the next 18 months due to the passage of AB 284. He noted that if the first two months of the new law’s impact is indicative of its impact, that about 180 NODS will be filed all of next YEAR. That’s ALL YEAR.

  3. Guy Johnson

    Norton, that total of 180 NODs will probably be fairly accurate if things don’t change. Only 15 NODs filed in Washoe County in November, and only 13 filed in October. Compare that to 613 filed in September and 642 filed in August.

  4. November median sold price, units, DOM, $/sq.ft.

    […] I usually wait until we’re at least a week into a new month before I post the median numbers for the prior month, but with a few readers commenting that this blog’s activity has been waning of late, I decided … Continue reading → […]

  5. Sully

    A while back when I was renting, the neighborhood was used as a traffic short cut. Too much traffic and too much speed. So they installed speed bumps. At first everyone came to a dead stop and idled over the speed bumps, then they found they could go a little faster without hitting their head on the roof. However most just avoided the area period – which was the point.

    At some point in time the banks will hire the unemployed mortgage brokers as mortgage finders, get their ducks in a row and everything will get back to normal. This is most likely an election year ploy to make it appear the politicians are doing their jobs. The last thing the Democrats want us to think is they are not doing anything to fix the problems and the last thing the Republicans want is us to think they are not doing their jobs.

    It just boils down to buying more time for the magic to work and the recovery to take hold. Put another way – it’s the same game with new players. You would think by now they would just pick up a history book and see how things went down the last time. 🙂

  6. MikeZ

    The last 6-7 months sure look like a market bottom, but is it? Only time will tell.

  7. Jacky

    One of these YEARS you will be right mikez.. lol

  8. Sully

    MikeZ, I was thinking the same for a minute there – then I woke up! 🙂

    I’m still not seeing a significant price change in the southwest region (area formerly known as ‘the high end’) and have noticed the recent activity in Tahoe with Silicon Valley gazillionaires snapping up property like easter eggs. I cannot foresee a change in this demand surge for the next 2 or 3 weeks. That would bring us into 2012, in which we will have a whole ‘nother year to debate the bottom.

    BTW, if my number doesn’t hit in Dec; I’ll just use it again in 2012 via comment by Jacky.

  9. geopower

    brace for an influx of trolling, RGJ is switching their comments to Facebook login, and the anonymous will be looking for places to rant.

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