Home sales in western Nevada County have seen a first-quarter slog for the second year in a row, slightly outpacing the start to the prior year.
But one often-repeated theory as to why sales have been slow — a consistently lower than normal inventory of homes on the market — looks as though it’s about to be put to the test.
In fact, the first three months of 2024 have produced the most homes on the market to start the first quarter in any of the past five years.
Ever since the white-hot sales frenzy that came with the COVID pandemic, western Nevada County has struggled to mount much normalcy on the market in terms of the number of homes listed for sale.
In each of the two years prior to the pandemic, at the end of March, there were more than 300 homes listed for sale, including 375 homes on the market in 2019. In the three years that have followed, however, fewer than 200 homes were listed for sale on average in each month of the first quarter.
That changed in 2024, as all three months of the first quarter surpassed 200 units for sale — including March’s 268 homes on the market, the highest number of listings in a first-quarter month since the 250 recorded homes for sale in March 2022.
Whether demand will rise to meet the rising supply remains to be seen, as buyers continue to deal with interest rates nearly double than those offered just a few years ago (and with sellers not wanting to give up their low rate by selling their home).
No doubt the second quarter of 2024 will see sales surpass the first, as the months of April, May and June are historically strong sales months for homes. But how much more will be telling.
In 2020, there were an average of 341 homes on the market in the second quarter. But amid in the pandemic sales frenzy there were 516 homes for sale locally in Q2 in 2021 and 501 on average each month in 2022.
Last year, the slowest sales year for local real estate since 2011, saw an average of 287 homes listed for sale monthly in the second quarter.
MIXED MARCH
As March saw a 26.4% increase in listings over February it also brought a 37% monthly increase to 37 median days on market for a home to have an accepted offer.
The median price of a home sold locally in March was $520,000, down 1.5% from February but matching the same monthly median price recorded one year ago — a far cry (22.4% higher) from the pre-pandemic median price of $425,000 recorded in March 2020.
The 79 homes sold in March reflected a 12.9% bump over February, but 9.2% lower than the 87 homes sold in the same month year-over-year.
Pending sales were less than a single percentage point down from February, with 102 deals in the works at the end of March.
BY THE NUMBERS
March home sales in western Nevada County:
$520,000 — Median price (2024)
$520,000 — Median price (2023)
37 – Days on market (2024)
41 – Days on market (2023)
79 – Homes sold (2024)
87 – Homes sold (2023)
268 – Homes for sale (2024)
183 – Homes for sale (2023)
Brian Hamilton is a Realtor (DRE #02149112) for the Betsy Hamilton Real Estate Team at RE/MAX Gold (DRE #01949144) in Grass Valley. Email him at Brian@BetsyHamilton.com or visit www.BetsyHamilton.com for more information.