Sellers this could mean light at the end of the tunnel!

Here is a local report from Jason Hidalgo who is seeing market activity pick up. It is quite natural to see more activity in the warmer months, but lets all keep our fingers crossed we gain a little higher ground this Summer!
If you are thinking about buying a home the window could be slowly closing. interest rates jump a few points higher in the past seven days. As the old saying goes "The house you saw today and want to think about tonight, may sell to someone who saw it yesterday and thought about it last night".
As for my sellers continue to hang in there. Just as they saw homes plummet in the California areas in the early nineties, then a huge appreciation in the early millennium. It will bounce back. Don't stop the struggle keep your heads up!
Enjoy this article.


Washoe home sales continue to climb
By Jason Hidalgo • jhidalgo@rgj.com • May 28, 2008
Sales of new and existing homes in Washoe County rose in April, the third straight month of sales gains.
Sales jumped 23 percent, according to the latest report from the University of Nevada, Reno's Center for Regional Studies. The report uses data from the Washoe County Assessor's Office.
Sales of new and existing condominiums saw an increase as well, up 8.8 percent from March to April. Sales for both single-family residences and condos remain down compared to the same period last year, however, with single-family residence sales down 41.6 percent and condos were down 9.4 percent from April last year.
The median sales price for new and existing single family homes in Washoe County for April was $299,000, the same price last month and down 8.9 percent from April 2007. New and existing condominiums saw median sales prices drop 22 percent from March to April.
"Prices are still trending down but it's a good sign to see month-to-month sales on the upswing," said Brian Kaiser, housing and real estate analyst for the Center for Regional Studies. "I don't think we'll truly be able to say we've found the bottom of this market until we see several consecutive months of data showing flat or increasing sales volume and flat or increasing transaction prices."
Existing homes
Existing home sales were responsible for the overall increase in single-family home sales in Washoe County, up 39.6 percent in April compared to March. In contrast, new home sales were down 0.9 percent in April from the previous month.
The decrease bucks the national trend for new single-family home sales, which saw an unexpected increase of 3.3 percent in April over March, according to a report released Tuesday by the Commerce Department.
Median prices for new single family homes also rose to $246,100 nationwide in April, a 9 percent increase from March and a 1.5 percent increase from the same period last year.
Sparks saw the biggest increase in single-family home sales in April, fueled by a 124 percent jump in sales of existing single-family residences as sales of new homes remained flat. Sales of new single-family residences in Reno dropped by 8.3 percent while existing single-family homes saw a sales increase of 17.5 percent. Condominium gains in April were also spurred by existing units, existing condo sales were up 100 percent compared to a 25.9 percent decline in new condo sales.
Overall, the numbers from the report are encouraging, said Wayne Capurro, president of the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors. Median home prices will likely continue to see declines in the next couple of months as banks continue to unload foreclosed properties. But that will also increase affordability for housing, Capurro said. The continued month-to-month sales increases are a good sign as well, Capurro added.
"I'm not ready to say that this is the end (of the housing decline), but this sure looks to me like the beginning of the end," Capurro said. "With increasing sales numbers and decreasing median prices -- those two things can't continue very long."
Supply concerns
Inventory remains the key question, said Ken Wiseman, broker-owner of Reno Rancho Realty; the spring months typically bring more buyers into the market but they also bring more sellers who add to the inventory. With the housing crisis making it difficult for existing home owners to trade up, the market has to primarily rely on first-time home buyers, which limits the number of buyers available, Wiseman said.
Wiseman also pointed out that despite the month-to-month sales increases, inventory in the Reno-Sparks market rose from 4,411 in May 20 to 4,494 as of Tuesday, according to Multiple Listing Service data. Using the 354 home sales reported in April by the MLS, the existing inventory equates to a 12.7-month supply of homes, far higher than the normal three- to six-month supply. In contrast, inventory nationwide dropped from 11.1 months in March to 10.6 months in April, according to the Commerce Department.
"Everybody can say sales are up, sales are up, sales are up, but inventory's up, too, which brings you back to the basic economics of supply and demand," Wiseman said. "Sales need to come way up to eat into our inventory and I'm not seeing it. When you're dealing with 4,494 houses in the market, that's just insane. This spring is going to be our big test."