Six lakefronts in the same area have publically closed this calendar year so far.  Please click here to view a list of sold properties. High sale to date was ~$6.3mm.

Three are currently under contract. No pending sales have asking prices above $5mm. View pending sales here.

With the highest YTD sale at $6.3 and all pending sales below $5mm, there is not much demand for higher price-point lakefronts.  Lakefront buyers are gravitating to mid and lower price range properties as their comfort zone.  As we trail out of the traditional lakefront selling season, there are some tremendous values for those seeking a lakefront property in Lake Tahoe.

-Bill Dietz, Principal Broker

For the first quarter of 2010, bellows of activity stoked the fire in the local market. Sales volume of condos and single family homes shot up over 40% from the same quarter last year.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that the median price fell 16% during the same period from $527,000 to $428,750.  This suggests buyers clearly sense value and are jumping into the market, but are electing to jump with only one foot – and the foot has a cast on it.  Buyers gobbled up bank-owned properties and other distress sales.  As those tend to represent the lower-end of the market, this partly explains the high volume, yet low median price.

The high-end single family home market (>$2MM) slowed considerably in the past two years.  In the first quarter, the market only produced three public sales north of $2MM.  During the same quarter, there were four $2MM+ sales in 2009, 11 in 2008, 7 in 2007, and 8 in 2006.

Many sellers of higher-end properties responded by dramatically reducing their asking prices to demonstrate opportunity to the value-sensitive buyer and to react to the weak sales volume.  Spawned be lower asking prices, interested buyers of higher-end properties are intensifying their searches.  The challenge remains the disconnect between buyers and sellers perception of the market.  A friend told me yesterday, “Sellers think it is 2006, and Buyers think it is 1929.”  Perfectly put.

There are great values in all price points in the Lake Tahoe market.  If you are interested in looking at property during your stay with us, we have a skilled, experienced team of agents who have expertise in all segments of the market.

-Bill Dietz, Principal Broker.

After a stagnant 2009, the upper-end real estate market in Tahoe surprised many by showing significant signs of life.  Despite persistently poor economic news in 2010, upper crust sales skyrocketed.

In the North Shore region (CA & NV,) there were only three public sales above $5,000,000 in 2009.  In 2010, 15 closings posted north of $5M.  Four of the 15 sales closed above $10M.  Cash is king at the high end, with 12 of the 15 sales above $5M in 2010 closed without any financing.

I attribute the strong sales volume at the high end to a number of different factors.  First of all, let’s not kid each other about how bad 2009 was.  People were more concerned about the world ending than dropping 8 figures on a vacation home.  In 2010, confidence returned (as tenuous as it may be,) the stock market rebounded (as shaky as the ride has been,) and many corporations posted strong earnings (despite them not hiring anyone.)

Another reason why the upper end market rebounded in 2010 was the attraction of high inventory and good values.  Because sales were near non-existent in 2009, and many Tahoe property owners needed to sell, inventory ballooned and prices fell.  The selection of high-end property on the market was something that had not been seen in years, if not decades.  The opportunity for Buyers to have a number of class A properties from which to chose, and the chance to negotiate heavily against them brought many buyers off the sidelines.

Tahoe Luxury Properties fortunately participated in the high-end activity of 2010.  We had our best real estate sales year ever, closing more than $75,000,000 in transactions.  We are blessed by our success and look to the future as bright.

For those of you who have considered purchasing a home in the Lake Tahoe area, there are many signs that say this remains a favorable time.  In addition to the large selection and negotiable sellers, winter is traditionally the time to secure the best deals on Tahoe properties.  Because the majority of Tahoe properties sell in the summer, sellers become anxious this time of year if their property has not sold.  And because their best shot to sell may not come around again until summer 2011, many sellers will offer larger concessions off the asking prices in order to secure a sale.

-Bill Dietz, Principal Broker

Interesting piece this week in the Wall Street Journal. Confirming that vacation homes saw considerable upticks in sales in 2010. Tahoe is on a similar trend with a 100% increase in the number of Lakefront sales in 2010 over 2009 (North and West Shores of the California side, according to MLS data.) WSJ article –

Market for Vacation Homes Is on the Rise – WSJ.com.