Home sales, prices increase in Lake Tahoe

While third quarter home sales in the Lake Tahoe Basin surged, the federal government shutdown could bring those numbers down this quarter.

Ninety percent of the Federal Housing Administration has been furloughed. FHA-approved loans account for about one-third of the loans. The IRS doesn’t have the staff to verify income. Cash sales won’t be impacted.

Most experts are saying the housing market will weather the shutdown as long as it doesn’t last long. The nation is now in week two of the shutdown.

For the quarter ending Sept. 30, the number of home sales in the Tahoe basin with a price tag of less than $1 million was up 293 percent. Overall the volume was up 60 percent from a year ago.

“The luxury market seems to be adding to our market rebound,” Sue Lowe, corporate vice president for Chase International Real Estate, said in a statement. “Sales across the board are increasing, but luxury is making a substantial comeback.”

The median price of a home in Lake Tahoe is up 33 percent from 2012 to $440,000.

According to the National Association of Realtors, sales across the nation are at the highest pace since February 2007, and have remained above year-ago levels for the past 26 months.

California is second to Florida for the most attractive state for foreign buyers of U.S. property, according to an Asia Society report. More than half the homes sold to foreign buyers in California go to Chinese nationals, estimates CNN Money.

Representatives from Sierra Sotheby’s International Realty recently attended an event in Hong Kong in an effort to form relationships with Asian homebuyers in the market to purchase property on the California side of Lake Tahoe.

The median home prices are up on the South Shore 36 percent to $325,000 for the third quarter compared to 2012.

In the same time period, Tahoe City is up 18 percent to $499,900; Incline Village is up 26 percent to $885,000; Truckee is up 13 percent to $499,90; Carson Valley is up 28 percent to $250,000; and Reno-Sparks area is up 31 percent to $210,000.

— Lake Tahoe News staff report