March median sales price and other market metrics

March home sales fall more than 19% YOY

The median home price in Reno-Sparks, Nevada slipped to $369,000 in March — giving back some of the gains seen in February. March’s median sales price represents a 0.8 percent decrease from February’s median and even a larger 1.6 percent decrease year-over-year.

March’s median sold price per square foot (PPSF) fell to $207.47/sq.ft. — a 0.6 percent decrease from February’s. Year-over-year, March’s median sold PPSF is up 3.3 percent.

But March’s most noteworthy metric was the number of homes sold (or, more to the point, not sold). Only 443 homes were sold during the month of March. Although, this paltry number is up 22.7 over February; historically, March homes sales have been 50 percent or more above February sales.

March typically marks the beginning of our housing market’s robust spring home buying season, but this year March home sales simply did not take off. To lend some perspective consider that, year-over-year, March’s units sold are down more than 19 percent from March 2018.

And this follows a February where units sales were also down almost 19 percent year-over-year. In fact, looking at total home sales for the quarter, 2019 1st-quarter sales were down 19.3 percent from the same period last year (1,129 vs. 1,399, respectively).

Another way to place March’s home sales in perspective, one would have to look back to 2009 in order to find a March with a lower total number of homes sold.

Inventory

Regarding inventory, presently 867 homes are available for purchase in the Reno-Sparks market. This number is down 2.7 percent from the 888 homes available for sale this time last month. Year over year, however, March’s current available inventory is up a hefty 63.9 percent.

That being said, despite the number of homes currently available for purchase, only 20.6 percent are priced at, or below, the current median sales price. Lack of affordable inventory remains a problem.

On a brighter note, pending sales rose slightly in March. Presently, 815 homes are pending sale in the Reno-Sparks market. That number is up 5.3 percent over the 774 homes pending sale this time last month. Look for unit sales to increase in April as the spring home-buying season ramps up. Year-over-year, current pending sales are essentially unchanged year-over-year.

March’s median days on market (DOM) came in at 78 days — a decrease of 10 days from February’s DOM. While a ten-day reduction in the median DOM does indicate increasing market velocity (a market beginning to warm up), March’s DOM number is still 56 percent higher year-over-year, indicating a relatively much slower market than this time last year.

March sales by type, break out as follows:

• REO sales: 1.6% – up from February’s 0.6%
• Short sales: 0.5% – down from February’s 0.6%
• Subject to Court Approval sales: 1.1% – up from February’s 0.9%
• Relocation sales: 0.9% – up from February’s 0.6%
• Equity sales: 95.9% – down from February’s 97.4%

March sales by price band, break out as follows in the table below…

Sales by Price Segment

sales price ($000’s)	units sold	cumulative % of sales
0 – 99	0	0.0%
100 – 199	3	0.7%
200 – 299	89	20.8%
300 – 399	180	61.4%
400 – 499	85	80.6%
500 – 599	39	89.4%
600 – 699	12	92.1%
700 – 799	7	93.7%
800 – 899	8	95.5%
900 – 999	7	97.1%
1M+	13	100%
total	443

March’s median sold price for houses and condos combined was $345,000 — a 2.5 percent decrease from February’s median sold price of $353,890 for combined sales of houses and condos.

The table below contains the past 13 months of data^[1]…

Past 13 Months of Home Sales Data

Month Year	# Sold	Median Sold Price	Sold Price per Sq Ft	Median DOM	# of Actives	# of Pendings
Mar 2019	443	$369,000	$207.47	78	867	815
Feb 2019	361	$372,000	$208.63	88	888	774
Jan 2019	325	$362,000	$210.44	86	961	655
Dec 2018	385	$365,000	$209.82	77	1,079	541
Nov 2018	469	$377,500	$211.75	71	1,237	634
Oct 2018	468	$385,000	$213.86	65	1,300	717
Sep 2018	460	$372,527	$210.74	60	1,333	725
Aug 2018	572	$370,725	$211.79	57	1,208	790
Jul 2018	567	$385,000	$216.37	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	492	$374,000	$205.46	51	638	891
Mar 2018	549	$375,000	$200.86	50	529	814

Thank you for taking the time to read this market report. As always, your comments and questions are welcomed.

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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 – April 4, 2019. Note: This information is deemed reliable, but not guaranteed.

For historical home sale data back to 1998 click here.