Whoa! December’s median sales price for Reno and Sparks, Nevada dropped to nearly its lowest level of the year!
December’s median finished 2018 at $360,000. This number is:
- nearly equal to January 2018’s median sales price of $359,950
- down a whopping 4.8 percent one-month drop from November’s median of $377,500
- and up only 4.3 percent year-over-year
Also noteworthy, December’s was the second one-month decline of 4 percent or more that was observed this year. The first occurred in August. [See: August median sales price and other market metrics]
Despite the big drop in the median sales price December’s median sold price per square foot (PPSF) fell less than 1.0 percent — coming in at $209.82/sq.ft. Year-over-year, December’s median sold PPSF is up 8.0 percent.
Perhaps even more startling than December’s huge decline in the median sales price was its drop in the number of homes sold for the month. Units sales in December totaled a paltry 361 homes — down a sobering 22.7 percent from November’s 467 units sold. December’s number is not only the fewest number of homes sold in any month in 2018, but also is the fewest number of homes sold in a single month since January 2017. Year-over-year, home sales are down 26.7 percent from the 493 homes sold in December 2017.
Regarding inventory, presently 1,079 homes are available for purchase in the Reno-Sparks market. Given the current rate of home sales, available inventory equates to about a 3-month supply. Currently, available inventory is down 12.8 percent from the 1,237 homes for sales this time last month. Year-over-year, the current number of available homes for purchase is up a whopping 78.3 percent from this time last year.
However, despite the gains in the number of homes available for purchase only 30.1 percent are priced at, or below, the current median sales price.
Pending sales also fell in December. Presently, 541 homes are pending sale in the Reno-Sparks market. That number is down 14.1 percent from the 634 homes pending sale this time last month. Look for low unit sales in January. Year-over-year, current pending sales are down 6.4 percent from December 2017.
December’s median days on market (DOM) came in at 75 days — an increase of four days over November’s DOM. December’s DOM is up 8.7 percent year-over-year.
December sales by type, break out as follows:
- REO sales: 2.2% – up from November’s <1%
- Short sales: 0% – down from November’s <1%
- Subject to Court Approval sales: 0.6% – down from November’s 1%
- Relocation sales: 0.6% – unchanged from November’s <1%
- Equity sales: 96.7% – down from November’s 97%
December sales by price band, break out as follows in the table below…
| sales price ($000’s) | units sold | cumulative % of sales |
| 0 – 99 | 0 | 0.2% |
| 100 – 199 | 1 | 1.8% |
| 200 – 299 | 84 | 19.7% |
| 300 – 399 | 145 | 55.0% |
| 400 – 499 | 63 | 77.6% |
| 500 – 599 | 32 | 88.6% |
| 600 – 699 | 13 | 93.2% |
| 700 – 799 | 5 | 95.2% |
| 800 – 899 | 3 | 96.3% |
| 900 – 999 | 3 | 97.4% |
| 1M+ | 12 | 100% |
| total | 361 |
December’s median sold price for houses and condos combined was $335,000 — down 5.6 percent from November’s median sold price for combined sales of houses and condos.
The table below contains the past 13 months of data[1]…
| Month Year | # Sold | Median Sold Price | Sold Price per Sq Ft | Median DOM | # of Actives | # of Pendings |
| Dec 2018 | 361 | $360,000 | $209.82 | 75 | 1,079 | 541 |
| Nov 2018 | 467 | $377,000 | $211.68 | 71 | 1,237 | 634 |
| Oct 2018 | 468 | $385,000 | $213.84 | 65 | 1,300 | 717 |
| Sep 2018 | 458 | $372,777 | $210.92 | 60 | 1,333 | 725 |
| Aug 2018 | 569 | $370,000 | $211.79 | 57 | 1,208 | 790 |
| Jul 2018 | 566 | $387,000 | $216.32 | 53 | 1,154 | 838 |
| Jun 2018 | 602 | $381,950 | $215.88 | 49 | 923 | 906 |
| May 2018 | 575 | $375,000 | $209.12 | 49 | 725 | 920 |
| Apr 2018 | 491 | $374,000 | $205.34 | 51 | 638 | 891 |
| Mar 2018 | 549 | $375,000 | $200.86 | 50 | 529 | 814 |
| Feb 2018 | 444 | $370,000 | $193.90 | 61 | 528 | 796 |
| Jan 2018 | 406 | $359,950 | $191.74 | 68 | 514 | 782 |
| Dec 2017 | 493 | $345,000 | $194.35 | 69 | 605 | 578 |
Thank you for taking the time to read this market report. As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.
1. 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 – January 3, 2019. Note: This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.
For historical home sale data back to 1998 click here.
Twister
What if this is 2017 all over again. An 18% surge in the median occurred from December 2016 to July 2017. That would put us well over 400k. We’ve had similarities the last several months to the fall of 2016 where we had a 6% correction while inventory numbers dropped both look the same as fall 2018. Inventory continues to drop here so far in January. Interest rates have peaked and have dropped to what appears to be a lower range . Lower interest rates together with lower prices and a tightening inventory spell a reversal in home prices to the upside.Now I don’t think we get 18% but I do think we make another run at a big $400,000 median price Reno/Sparks. I made the case now you decide….