May Home Sales and Foreclosure Data for Washoe Cou...

The Center for Regional Studies has just finished updating the May 2010 home sales and foreclosure data for Washoe County and the news is mixed.  First, the good news: sales of new and existing single family homes were up 4% in May compared to a year ago, and it wasn’t just because of strong existing home sales — NEW home sales actually posted an increase!  April and May both showed higher new home sales than any month in nearly a year, although with fewer than 70 new homes sold in each of those months, the sales rate is still far below where it was before the housing crash when 275-300 new home sales per month was the norm.  And while the median sales price of homes continues to fall in Washoe County, at least the rate of change is slowing.  The median sales price of new and existing homes fell 6% in May compared to a year ago, but at least it’s not a double digit decline.  Condo sales, too, were up in May (46%) although the median sale price of those units was 40%...

Presentations Added to the Center for Regional Stu...

Two new presentations have been added to the CRS website: http://centerforregionalstudies.org/about/what-we-provide/presentations/ On June 15th, Brian Bonnenfant spoke to the Association of General Contractors about the current state of the economy in Washoe County, and on June 18th Brian Kaiser was part of the Nevada Council for Affordable Housing’s conference in Reno.  PDF copies of both presentations are available for download.

1q2010 Economic Indicators for Washoe County...

Washoe County’s economy may still be in the dumps, but the latest round of indicators from the first quarter of 2010 shows some signs of life and offers hope that the worst is behind us. Although total employment in the Reno MSA was down in March from the previous month and the previous year, the rate of decrease appears to be slowing somewhat, and many more industries were able to post NO job losses for the month than was previously possible.  After seeing declines in jobs almost across the board over the last couple years, it is encouraging to see the market begin to flatten out.  Overall, employment in the Reno MSA was down 3% compared to last year, with construction, manufacturing, and information services jobs taking the largest hits. To download the latest copy of our Washoe County Economic Indicators file, please visit our Maps and Data Downloads section.