Reno among top 10 for housing market recovery: Written by Molly J. Moser Reno’s housing market improvement is one of the strongest in the country, according to a Top 10 Turnaround Towns Report by Realtor. Reno ranked 10th in the list of strongly improved cities within their housing market. Realtor reported that Reno’s strong demand and decline in inventory combined to create double-digit price appreciation for the second quarter of this year. Reno’s median list prices were 26 percent higher than 2012’s second quarter, and inventory was down 29.1 percent. Las Vegas ranked 32nd on the list for the quarter, made up of April, May and June. No. 1 was Oakland. Allison Schwartz, vice president of communications at Realtor, said Reno was ranked 38th during the second quarter of 2012, and Las Vegas was ranked 70th. “Especially having lived in the Reno area myself, it’s really nice to have good years to report after a couple of rough years in the housing community,” she said. David Hughes of Dickson Realty in Reno said it’s been the busiest year that he’s ever had. “I think our market literally turned on a dime,” said Hughes. “It caught a lot of our builders off guard because of the increase of demand. A lot of the builders are scrambling to find land.” Kelly Richmond of Reno-Sparks Real Estate also saw a turnaround personally. “It’s been very dramatic as far as the value of properties go,” he said. “If you own a house in Reno, it’s good news.” He said the report should apply to Sparks, given the close proximity. Nationally, the report states the median age of inventory dropped 14.4 percent from the second quarter of 2012. “Regular” homes sold in 83 days. The number of homes available on the market decreased by 10.3 percent year-over-year, with an average of 1.8 million homes on the market. Molly J. Moser is a student working with the Reinventing Reno project at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Aug 2013 18:02:50 +0000