Incline Village real estate agents along with everybody else at Lake Tahoe are very happy to see the sun shining after such a long stretch of winter storms. This is the most snow we have seen at one time in many years. It’s a reminder that during wintertime, life in the Sierras can be pretty harsh. However, as long as you are prepared for power outages, road closures and the potential for empty shelves in the supermarket everything will be just fine.
This past week brought the least amount of activity we have seen in a very long time on the Incline Village real estate market. There were 0 new listings, two price reductions, one property going into escrow and one property closing escrow. We expected sales activity to slow down during the stormy time period. So, these most recent statistics are not that surprising.
However, when we take a look back at unit sales for the first 3 weeks of January since the start of the pandemic the numbers are a bit disconcerting. During the first 3 weeks of January in 2021 a total of 11 single-family homes and freestanding condos closed escrow. In 2022 that number dropped to 5 and this year it decreased down to just 2 units.
Closed escrows are a lagging indicator of sales activity. This is because they generally reflect properties that went into escrow in the previous 30 to 60 days. What’s obvious to us statisticians is that the pandemic caused buying frenzy is long in the past and new market conditions indicating a significant slowdown are well underway.
What this means for buyers is that you will have opportunities to negotiate price and terms that are more favorable than in the past 3 years. Some sellers will be more patient than others and willing to ride out the variations of the current market cycle. Others will look at substantial gains on paper and decide that 2023 is the right time to sell and reposition their funds.
There will likely be a tug-of-war between buyers and sellers during the 1st few months of 2023 as the market tries to establish it's new footing. With so many variable economic factors in flux it will be interesting to see how the coming year shakes out. Let’s hope that Congress can get its act together and start showing some fiscal responsibility while staying far away from any notion of a default on the national debt.
Property owners who absolutely want to sell in 2023 should consider listing their place for sale in the early spring before a lot of inventory hits the market. A reasonable asking price combined with a relatively low inventory in the early spring will give you a leg up on the competition if you want to sell this year.