July Home Sales — Yikes!...

The Center for Regional Studies has just completed the July 2010 home sales and foreclosure statistics for Washoe County, and the news isn’t great.  Given that the rest of the economy is still a mess, this shouldn’t come as a surprise…but if there’s anyone out there who still thinks that housing is going to lead us out of this mess, perhaps they should take a closer look at the numbers.  In July, the sales and foreclosure numbers were almost uniformly bad — fewer sales of new and existing homes, falling prices, more foreclosures, more Notices of Default (NODs) filed…you get the picture. Looking at the cumulative numbers for the first seven months of the year relative to last year, the news was a little more encouraging: Sales of existing single family homes for the first seven months of the year were up 18% from last year, and sales of existing condos were up 75%.  There ARE sales occurring, although prices have yet to bottom out in this market and...

2q10 Housing Reports are Completed!...

The Center For Regional Studies has just completed the second quarter housing reports for Washoe County.  Builders have been slowly working their way through the stockpile of finished units, and there were less than 1,200 units in “standing inventory” at the end of June (including model homes). Each quarter we are seeing more and more tentative maps expiring — these represent units that were approved in the past few years but, due to the economic downturn, builders have not been able to bring these units to market within the allotted time frame.  Seeing as there are still over 31,000 approved-unsold units in the Truckee Meadows, this trend in tentative map expiration will likely continue for some time. To put that in perspective, there were less than 1,000 new homes sold in 2009, and 2010 is carrying on at a similar pace.  The sheer volume of approved-unsold units in the area tells me that builders are going to be extremely cautious before attempting to add to that...

Another look at the 2q2010 Housing Data for Washoe...

Housing in the 2nd quarter posted relatively strong sales (up 34% from Q1 and up 12 from last year), and distressed sales (REO or short sale) accounted for about 7% less of the total than they did last quarter – all good news.  Also, NODs filed in the second quarter numbered 30% fewer than in the first quarter and 27% fewer than a year ago – another good sign that perhaps the worst is behind us.  However, NTSs were up 14% from a year ago, and actual bank foreclosures were up dramatically – up 33% from 1st quarter and up 84% from a year ago. What is looks like to me is that banks started to move on some of the stockpiled properties that have been sitting on their books for the last several quarters.  There is clearly a backlog of distressed homes that have not been dealt with yet, and we will likely start to see those working their way through the system in the coming months.  While it’s great news that the new defaults (NODs) were down in the second quarter, it’s still distressing...

2nd Quarter 2010 Home Sales and Foreclosure Data f...

The Center for Regional Studies has just finished compiling the latest data for home sales and foreclosures in Washoe County and posted them to the website.  Here are some of the highlights: There were 209 new single family home sales in the second quarter — up 365% from the first quarter and roughly even with 2q09 new home sales.  Because of unusually pitiful new home sales in the first quarter of this year, that percentage increase looks far more impressive than it otherwise would, but it’s still a bit of good news for the area.  The median sales price of new single family construction was $212,000, which was 4% lower than it was last year.  New condo sales were up 53% in the first quarter with 26 new units finding owners, but the median price of those units declined slightly to $161,900. Existing single family home sales were up 22% in the second quarter compered to the first, and up 12% compared to last year.  The median sales price of existing single family units...

Unemployment Rate Drops for Most Nevada Counties i...

It’s hard to believe that Nevada has finally passed MICHIGAN of all places to take the crown for highest unemployment in the nation…no matter how bad things got, one could always rest a little easier knowing that things were worse in Michigan.  No more.  In May 2010, Nevada’s unemployment rate hit 14%, or 13.8% with a seasonal adjustment. But amid this horror, there IS some good news:  16 of Nevada’s 17 counties posted LOWER unemployment in May than they did in April, and the 17th county (Douglas) held steady with 15% unemployment.  Some other fun facts: The unemployment rates decreased between 0.1 and 0.8% in 16 counties — Clark (14.1%) and Washoe (13.3%) both decreased 0.1% in May. Lyon County remains the hardest hit county in Nevada with a staggering 18.3% unemployment, but that’s down from 19.1% last month. Lander County reported the lowest unemployment rate in May, with just 7.6% unemployment thanks to strong mining industry employment.  Mining,...

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.

April 2010 Home Sales and Foreclosure Data for Was...

The latest home sales and foreclosure data for Washoe County has been updated and the reports are available on our website. There were 43 new home sales in April, which was up 72% from the 25 sales in March, but still short of last year’s sales.  For a market that was accustomed to selling several hundred new homes each month during the “good” years, this is quite an adjustment for local builders but will likely be the new reality that we all operate under for the next few years.  Until the rest of the economy begins to stabilize — and I’m primarily referring to the JOBS market — it’s hard to see new home sales staging much of a comeback.  Unemployment is still hovering at or near record highs, and with this many households either out of work or fearing for the stability of their jobs it’s critical that people start to feel more secure with their own economic outlook before we can expect to see other areas of the economy settle down. For...

Washoe County New Residential Subdivision Activity...

The Center for Regional Studies has completed the first quarter updates to the Residential Subdivision and Market Activity Report for Washoe County and has made some additions to the report to make it even more valuable to its users.  There is now data for existing homes showing median list price per square foot by subregion in the Reno-Sparks area, as well as monthly resale activity by price range for the Truckee Meadows.  Also, the data for new residential subdivisions has been enhanced to include the number of bank-owned homes per subdivision and the average sale price of new homes sold in the previous quarter for each subdivision. The Residential Subdivision and Market Activity Report offers a comprehensive, current look at the housing market in the Reno-Sparks area by carving the basin up into 9 distinct subregions and thoroughly examining the finished lots, the stock of planned new housing, the number of remaining units, the number of bank owned units, and the number of finished...