Inventory impacting Lake Tahoe housing market
By Mark Glover, Sacramento Bee
A lack of inventory has dragged down the Lake Tahoe real estate market through the first nine months of 2014, according to the Lake Tahoe, Nevada-based Chase International.
Through Sept. 30 this year, the sales volume of single-family homes around the lake was down 15 percent at $727.4 million, compared with $853.7 million in the year-ago period. Likewise, the number of units sold declined 19 percent in the same period, from 1,087 last year to 877 in 2014.
Year over year, Chase said the median sales price of a Lake Tahoe home is down 19 percent to $472,000, but the average price was up 6 percent to $829,502. Sales of homes priced at more than $1 million were down 16 percent; sales of those sold for less than $1 million were down 20 percent.
The lack of inventory is due to investors looking elsewhere for investment in areas that aren’t economically depressed. Tahoe residents are stuck and waiting to sell or build if and when home prices recover. ( they have not )
Local jobs and income recovery are still lagging behind other areas that have flourished after the recession.
Expensive and complicated fees and hoops to jump through for home maintenance and remodeling leave the result of a dilapidated area of homes that people can’t afford to maintain or upgrade.
Just to do a simple remodel or upgrade locals are held hostage to install TRPA BMP’s and paying countless local agencies thousands for fees and inspections before getting approval.
Add the fact that new home construction isn’t very profitable and the cost of local agency fees are exorbitant and rising – the picture for investors isn’t getting any brighter.
Who’s going to invest in Tahoe when jobs, the local economy and home prices have remained less than stagnant, and local agencies have a noose around our necks ?
We desperately need to get the right people into local government who will truly represent our local economic needs rather than puppets that feed the agencies and corporations more money. We need to take the decision making for our future away from local Fed and State agencies and take charge of our own future.
For a healthy local economy there needs to be some actual percentage of growth and development that benefits locals – other than agencies feeding corporations.
Not often that a lack of product lowers prices. Must be yet another anomaly that is endemic to Lake Tahoe.
yeah TRPA regulations have really stopped my landlord from painting my house,or doing just about anything else requiring spending a dime in over 15 years!
TRPA Regs are stopping your landlord from PAINTING your house. I find that hard to believe. What reason are they citing?
Toxic. Lack of inventory means fewer homes for sale. I see lots of homes being remodeled and lots of work on Highway 50 and 89 too. Actually, the City is looking the best it has looked in a long time now that the Chateau restarted and other projects are in the works. I have been in town for 40 years.