March real estate news in South Lake Tahoe: Median sales price $705,000

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - There are currently just 53 active listings of homes for sale in the South Lake Tahoe real estate market, the lowest number since MLS records started being kept. With 19 homes currently in escrow, the 34 available homes are not a record, but indicative buyers are still interested in homes at the lake.

The median sales price of homes sold in March was $705,000, a little less than in March of 2022 when the median was $707,875. The previous month was also down slightly at 1.5 percent, coming off almost three straight years of increases, many of those being double digits. Think back to March 2017 when the median sales price was half of this year at $350,000.

"We saw a two-month drop in median sales price last August and September as well," explained Amanda Adams, MLS chairperson of the South Tahoe Association of Realtors (STAOR). "With the ever so slight reduction the past three months I don't see that as a strong downward trend but more of a show that lower priced properties are the ones selling right now."

Adams said she has several buyers waiting for homes in the $600,000-$800,000 range, but they aren't in a rush and sitting back until more homes come on the market. `

Closed sales of homes in March saw a drop in those priced over $769k, but those priced between $544k and $768k went up as seen in the attached graph.

After the heavy snowfall this winter, there should be a few listings coming on the market from those sick and tired of clearing snow. That happens after every heavy winter Adams said, though it isn't normally a huge number for the "sick of snow" reason.

"Most owners aren't willing to sell right now because they have super low-interest rates on their current mortgages that they got pre-inflation and if they sell and have to buy something else, they will be paying double if not triple the interest," said Adams.

Home sales at Lake Tahoe this summer will depend on a few things according to Adams:

Interest rates - will they go up, settle down or drop a little?
Inventory - how many homes will go on the market in the middle range that buyers are looking for?

"If we see an increase in inventory in May (like we normally do in Tahoe), then we anticipate sales will go up as well," added Adams. It's all a guess right now and time will tell.

A strong inventory of homes for sale will dictate the market. In July 2022 there were 186 active listings and in July 2021, 187. More common in the last decade were 200-400 homes for sale in South Lake Tahoe.