No matter where you are or what your view of the world, 2020 was not a dull year for newsworthy events, changes in the American political scene or the Incline Village / Crystal Bay real estate market. By historical standards this was close to an all-time high sales year with the Incline Village MLS reporting 644 sales of houses, condos and freestanding condos and vacant land, January 1st – December 31st. This is about 36% more sales than in 2019. In a normal year, we will have roughly 400 total sales in all of Incline Village and Crystal Bay. After the initial uncertainty of the economic impacts from COVID-19, prices for single-family homes and condos skyrocketed after the economic shutdowns and stay at home orders became the new normal and people not only in CA but all over the country fled the cities for more rural way of life and a little more elbow room. Though we had a boom year for sales, our inventory remains at historically low levels and demand remains sky-high.
As we enter the start of 2021, there are approximately 48 total residential properties for sale in our entire community. The inventory of properties during the year ranged from the low 50s to the mid-70s depending on the season and pace of sales activity. The number of houses for sale moved below a 2-month supply (MSI) during the summer and early autumn, and as remained at the current level 1.7 (MSI) into the new year because of
year ‘round sales and listing activity with few listings either expiring or being withdrawn from the market.
The net result is that we have seen a drastic change in our market over the past 12 months for better or for worse and we do not exactly know how long it will last until we return to a “healthy” real estate market without the extreme price volatility that was witnessed during the previous 12 months when prices dropped then rose dramatically and subsequently a large portion of the buyers were priced out and people who purchased homes in 2019 had significant gains. The combination of extremely low inventory levels, excessive demand and strong local economies in the markets that provide most of the buyers for properties in our community, has brought an influx of diverse new community members and an increased pressure local challenges (housing affordability, job availability, traffic, trash, environmental issues, etc.) during the past year.
Sales of single-family homes outpaced those of condominiums steadily throughout the year. The most popular neighborhood was Eastern Slope with 42 sales followed by 37 in Jennifer Sub., 32 in the Champ Course Sub., 31 in Lower Tyner, 29 each in Millcreek and Lakeview Subs. and so on. Luxury homes did rather well with 39 homes selling between $4 MM-$9 MM and 12 homes sales between $9.1 MM - $27.5 MM.
There are currently only 34 single-family homes for sale and only 1 with an asking price under $1,000,000. There was a total of 55 sales of houses that closed escrow below $1,00,000 and this wiped out a lot of the inventory in this price range.
Barring some catastrophic economic or political event we believe that real estate sales in 2021 will remain relatively strong and the in Incline Village and Crystal Bay real estate market will be very competitive. Buyers will want to keep an eye out during the winter months for any new listings that may be of interest and they likely will not last long enough for them to get off the slopes to see it. As reasonably priced properties in good locations with desirable floor plans get listed for sale, there will likely be a significant amount of showing activity and new contracts being written within the first 24 hours.
