We've seen a lot of people moving to our area over the last few years, and according to the latest census numbers, the biggest segment is under 30 years old. According to Dickson Realty, this sector represents the largest number of future homebuyers.
"We're really diversified our economy, and it makes it a great place for a lot of people to be," said Chris Galli, VP of Relocation for Dickson Realty. "We have some great high-paying jobs here now, so with that we have a huge influx of people age 20-29 who now make up a quarter of everyone coming to our area. Those will all be homebuyers and they are going to make up the biggest segment of our market soon. They're landing some pretty good jobs, Tesla has a lot to do with that, what's going on at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, and so people are able to come in and afford a place to live."
He says rising interest rates have helped to normalize the local market.
"It changed affordability for people and with that, homes are sitting on the market a little bit longer," he said. "We're starting to see our days on market increase, and getting back to a little bit more of balanced market there."
But there's still in inventory shortage here, and things cooled down over the winter.
"We consider a balanced market to be about six months of inventory in most of our price points, we have about a third of that," Galli said. "So still a need for inventory for sure. Builders are starting to increase their building again, we're seeing some sellers come back in the market, so hoping to balance that out a little more this spring."
Right now he says sellers still tend to have the upper hand, but they are seeing more opportunities for buyers heading into the market's traditionally busier months.
"Builders are starting to offer some incentives and things that maybe they weren't doing during the pandemic, sellers have been offering some incentives to some homebuyers where they are helping to buy down their rate to get them into a more affordable position, so some great opportunities for buyers out there."
The majority of buyers are still coming from California.
"We still get a lot from California, a lot of overlap with Silicon Valley with what we're doing here," he said. "But also lots from other tech centers around the world, Austin, places like that. Since the pandemic, people are able to work remotely a lot more than they ever were and so because of that, we're seeing people want to be up at the lake and places like that. Why not stare at a beautiful lake if you can work from anywhere?"
