Quarter one has set promising expectations for the Reno-Sparks real estate market in 2024. The market has seen growth in sales prices, units sold, new contracts, and new listings compared to prior months and years. Despite decreasing home supply, the first quarter real estate market update shows a balanced market, ready for growth over the next three quarters.
Watch the latest Reno-Sparks Real Estate Market Trends
Reno-Sparks Real Estate Market Trends
The optimism we shared going into 2024 remains as we look at the first quarter’s market update. Since July 2023, the Reno-Sparks area has seen an uptick in interest from both buyers and sellers alike. While this has yet to translate to a significant uptick in inventory, the market has remained stable over time, and more demand is being seen month-over-month in the area.
Median Sales Price
Closing out the first quarter, March 2024 saw a median sales price of $575,000 for homes in the Reno-Sparks area. This is a 4% increase month-over-month from February’s $549,000, and an 8.9% year-over-year from March 2023’s median price of $527,000. This appreciation continues to be a positive sign for growth of the area’s real estate market.
Units Sold
March saw an incredible 332 units sold in the Reno-Sparks real estate market. An 11% month-over-month increase from February’s 298 units sold, there’s a clear uptick in demand for homes in the area. Taking the first quarter’s data, we’ve seen 889 homes sold this year, which is only a decrease of 2.6% year-over-year—leaving us optimistic for the remaining quarters of the year, especially coming into spring and summer.
New Contracts
421 homes went into contract in March of 2024. From February’s 343 pending sales, that’s a month-over-month increase of 16%, and from March of 2023’s 390 pending sales, that’s a year-over-year increase of 8%. More impressively, the first quarter saw a total of 1,070 homes enter contract, which is a 26% increase from the fourth quarter of 2023. All of this indicates increasing buyer demand in the Reno-Sparks real estate market as we continue through 2024.
New Listings
In March, 426 new listings came on the market—an increase of 24% month-over-month. While the market is highly affected by seasonality, and we’d expect a significant increase from Q4 2023 to Q1 2024, the market defied expectations, closing at a 26% increase quarter-over-quarter.
Active Inventory
At the end of March, there were 580 homes active in the Reno-Sparks real estate market. This marks a 7% decrease from February and a substantial 20% decline from March of 2023. While demand is rising, inventory levels aren’t yet there. The increase in new listings, however, keeps us optimistic that active inventory will increase to the level of demand as the year continues.
Days to Contract & Closing Price
In March, the average home went into contract after just 15 days on the market, down 21% from February’s 19 days, and 17% from March 2023’s average of 18 days. Taken together with the average contract closing at 98% of asking price, it’s clear that the market is absorbing available inventory quickly.
National Real Estate Market Update
Across the nation, local and regional real estate markets are mirroring what’s being seen in the Reno-Sparks area. The Fed Funds rate has slightly increased with a target rate of 5.25% – 5.5%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent remarks indicated they might not be lowering the Fed Funds rate as soon as they expected this year due to the third consecutive month of stronger-than-anticipated inflation readings. While interest rates have slightly increased due to Powell’s remarks, keeping buyers cautious, demand for housing is still increasing. Coupled with limited inventory, many regions are seeing price appreciation in the housing market. With hopes that the federal interest rate will drop this year, buyers are eager to see more inventory on the market, while sellers continue to have the upper hand.
