The housing market in the Truckee Meadows has been through the wringer these past couple of years, but looking at the data from the first few months of 2008 reveals a few signs of life – and at this point, I’ll take any good news I can get!

Although the year-over-year numbers were mostly down, there were some gains made in single family and condo sales from March to April. Sales of new and existing single family homes were up 23% in April from a month earlier, and sales of new and existing condos were up 8.8%. Prices were still trending down, but it’s a good sign to see month-to-month sales on the upswing. Looking back at the past few months of data, the month-to-month sales increases from January to February, from February to March, and March to April have been fairly consistent, although there were still fewer sales each month than a year ago. Existing single family home sales, in particular, enjoyed a strong month in April with a 40% increase in sales from March.

With the one exception of new condos in Washoe County, which was up 20% in April from a year ago, median sales prices are still falling in the region. I don’t think we’ll truly be able to say we’ve found the bottom of this market until we see several consecutive months of data showing flat (or increasing) sales volume *and* flat or increasing transaction prices. Stay tuned for more month-by-month analysis of the areas housing market conditions.

For more information on the local housing market, visit our website at www.nvdata.org and look for the “data and downloads” section. The Center for Regional Studies is an economic development partnership between the Nevada Small Business Development Center and the University of Nevada, Reno.