Home prices in Washoe County continued their months long rise in September as fewer existing-home sales pumped up the median sales price by 20 percent from a year earlier, according to a report Friday.
And for the July-September third quarter, the median price rose 15 percent from third-quarter 2011, the findings by the Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors show.
“With the volume of sales and pending sales, we have been depleting the available existing inventory,” said Helen Graham, 2012 president-elect of the association, adding that 46 percent of September’s sales were traditional and not bank-owned or short sales, down from 32 percent in 2011.
Earlier this week, a report by Realtor.com, a homes-for-sale website, put Reno-Sparks at the 90th most-searched market out of 250 U.S. metro areas in September, up from 93rd in August and 95th in July.
Even so, one area housing expert was hesitant to declare the corner turned on the region’s long-suffering housing market.
“I won’t go there yet. We need to get through this winter,” said Brian Bonnenfant, program manager for the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.
He said the market is still flooded with distressed properties in various stages of foreclosure, and home sales are still lagging in the $300,000 and over category.
“That’s a leading indicator for us, seeing higher-level sales perk up. But right now we’re seeing the majority of sales, to a lot of investors, still in the $100,000-$300,000 range,” he said. “For a full recovery, we have to get the distressed inventory out of the pipeline.”
The Realtor group’s figures are based on information from the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service and include sales of foreclosure properties.
In September, the median sales price in Washoe County was $178,000, up from $175,000 in August and continuing a trend since the median price hit a recession low of $135,000 last January. Even so, the median sales price is still far below the pre-recession peak of $350,000 in the third quarter of 2005.
Through the recession, Nevada has been at or near the top of the nation in home foreclosures. On Friday, Bonnenfant said one legislative remedy, Assembly Bill 284 enacted last year requiring stricter documentation during the foreclosure process, has slowed the number of distressed homes released onto the market.
Earlier this month, a study by RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracker, showed a 70 percent drop in Washoe County foreclosures in the third quarter.
Earlier this week, a report by Realtor.com, a homes-for-sale website, put Reno-Sparks at the 90th most-searched market out of 250 U.S. metro areas in September, up from 93rd in August and 95th in July.
Even so, one area housing expert was hesitant to declare the corner turned on the region’s long-suffering housing market.
“I won’t go there yet. We need to get through this winter,” said Brian Bonnenfant, program manager for the Center for Regional Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno.
He said the market is still flooded with distressed properties in various stages of foreclosure, and home sales are still lagging in the $300,000 and over category.
“That’s a leading indicator for us, seeing higher-level sales perk up. But right now we’re seeing the majority of sales, to a lot of investors, still in the $100,000-$300,000 range,” he said. “For a full recovery, we have to get the distressed inventory out of the pipeline.”
The Realtor group’s figures are based on information from the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service and include sales of foreclosure properties.
In September, the median sales price in Washoe County was $178,000, up from $175,000 in August and continuing a trend since the median price hit a recession low of $135,000 last January. Even so, the median sales price is still far below the pre-recession peak of $350,000 in the third quarter of 2005.
Through the recession, Nevada has been at or near the top of the nation in home foreclosures. On Friday, Bonnenfant said one legislative remedy, Assembly Bill 284 enacted last year requiring stricter documentation during the foreclosure process, has slowed the number of distressed homes released onto the market.
Earlier this month, a study by RealtyTrac, a national foreclosure tracker, showed a 70 percent drop in Washoe County foreclosures in the third quarter.
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