Reno-Tahoe Real Estate Market Update | October 2023

 

The sentiment behind Reno’s ascension to the status of “Happiest Place to Live” is undoubtedly an underlying driver of demand for the region’s real estate. While sales have faced countless headwinds from interest rate spikes to bank failures, home values have shown tremendous resilience for one simple reason – nobody wants to leave.

 

The confluence of great weather, abundant recreation, and a rapidly maturing job force in a tax-friendly environment has led to outsized growth in quality-of-life metrics that have distorted the equilibrium of supply and demand.

 

The unique combination of high interest rates; a buyer constraint; and tight inventory; a seller variable; have led to near record-low transaction quantity yet average pricing within a single percentage point of the prior year. Through three quarters just 2857 residential properties have traded, the fewest since 2007. Unlike in those challenging years when prices were plummeting amid a cascade of foreclosures, the average sale price throughout the greater Reno area is just $1,800 less than all of 2022. The percentage of home sales greater than $1 million is exceeding that of 2022 indicating robust health in the premium segment of the local market.

 

Inventory has waned a bit, returning to early summer levels representing just below 4 months of supply. This general stasis is likely to persist through Q4 and into the early months of 2024; months typically defined as the slowest in any given year. The slightest tailwind from easing interest rates will be a major accelerant in a market that seems anxious to again soar.