The month of August saw 15.2% fewer homes sold in western Nevada County from July, as the local market heads toward the fourth quarter of 2024, which year-to-date has kept pace with prior year sales.
According to Multiple Listing Service data, there were 106 transactions closed locally in August, down from the 125 recorded the prior month and down 12.3% from the 121 units sold in August 2023.
Whether 2024 continues to keep pace with 2023 sales — the slowest sales year since prior to the pandemic in 2019 — remains to be seen, but strong September sales seem key to keeping stride with the prior year.
One year ago, September wrapped up with 107 homes sold for a total of 335 transactions recorded in the third quarter. In 2022, there were 414 units sold in the same stretch of time and 479 the prior year, in 2021.
With 125 homes sold in July, and another 106 last month, September would need to see 104 homes sold — a number the local market has surpassed in September of each of the past five years — to keep pace with total 2023 year-to-date sales.
QUARTERLY COMPARISONS
Looking ahead, In each of past fourth quarters over that same five-year period, western Nevada County has seen a seasonal slowdown in sales.
Last year saw a total of 382 homes sold in last three months of the year. And since the pandemic, when sales surged as high as 642 homes sold of in final quarter of 2020, western county has consistently seen fewer sales volume in the fourth quarter.
For perspective, there were 519 homes sold in the fourth quarter of 2021 and 409 units sold in the same stretch of 2022, as well as the aforementioned 382 homes sold in the final quarter of 2023.
In 2019, prior to the pandemic, there were 498 homes sold in the fourth quarter.
At the end of August, there were 125 pending sales recorded, 3.3% higher than July and the exact same number in the MLS at the end August 2023.
The median days on market, which records how many days of being listed it took sellers to accept an offer, rose to 31 days — a 34.8% increase over the 23 days recorded in July and 158% more than the 12 median days on market in April, the lowest monthly DOM of 2024 to date.
In August of 2023, it took a very similar 32 median days on market for a home to enter escrow.
PRICE REDUCTIONS PREVALENT
The median price of a home sold locally in August was $531,000, marking a 5.2% decline from July and 4.1% lower than the median price of a home sold in August of 2023. Year to date, the median price of a home sold in western county has been $545,000 throughout 2024.
The price per square foot also dropped to $293, marking a 7.0% decrease from July.
With the local market cooling considerably from the pandemic-fueled frenzied sales, which kept the inventory of homes on the market considerably lower than normal and, alternatively, led to record high prices for homes sold here.
As inventory now continues to climb, with 460 homes on the market at month’s end, western Nevada County’s real estate market is consistently seeing more price reductions than new homes coming onto the market.
Continuing a trend we first reported in June, there were 40 new listings in the seven days leading up to Sept. 12, along with 59 price reductions on homes already listed for sale.
BY THE NUMBERS
August home sales in western Nevada County:
$531,000 — Median price (2024)
$554,500 — Median price (2023)
31– Days on market (2024)
32 – Days on market (2023)
106 – Homes sold (2024)
121 – Homes sold (2023)
460 – Homes for sale (2024)
357 – 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.