After slogging through a first-quarter similar to the start of 2023, the slowest sales year in more than a decade, it appears spring has sprung in the western Nevada County real estate market as home sales warmed up significantly in April.
Through the first three months of 2024, sales pretty much mirrored those of a year ago with a 2.7% increase in transactions. April, however, grew 7.6% over prior month, and year-to-date 6.4% more homes have sold than the first four months of 2023.
According to Multiple Listing Service statistics, pending sales were up 20% over March and 16% higher than April 2023.
Looking deeper into sales statistics for April, home listings were up 31% over March and 57% over the same month last year, as 352 homes were listed for sale. That continues the recent trend, as the first three months of 2024 produced more listings than any first-quarter of the past five years.
Growing inventory on the market is particularly a positive sign, as the local market has struggled to establish a large volume of listings since the sales frenzy of 2020-2021 as homeowners who refinanced or bought homes during that stretch have been slow to give up their low interest rates in listing their homes for sale.
And even with the significant bump in inventory, the pace of sales picked up considerably last month, decreasing the median days on market from 37 in March to 12 days in April. Some sellers are also starting to see multiple offers on listings in a mere matter of days.
Such competition most often means a higher price to buy the home. The median price of a home sold locally in April was $575,000, a 10.6% increase over the prior month and 4.9% over April 2023.
BY THE NUMBERS
April home sales in western Nevada County:
$575,000 — Median price (2024)
$548,000 — Median price (2023)
12 – Days on market (2024)
30 – Days on market (2023)
85 – Homes sold (2024)
71 – Homes sold (2023)
352 – Homes for sale (2024)
224 – 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.
