Lake Tahoe Housing Splits California and Nevada Markets in Two
The state line that divides Lake Tahoe between California and Nevada also splits the real estate market in two.
Lake Tahoe is the highest and largest Alpine lake in the USA, and the surrounding mountains receive between 300 and 500 inches of snow a year. Those in the Nevada housing market are closer to the casinos, which are legal on that side of the border; the California residents have better access to the ski resorts.
However, on both sides of Lake Tahoe, at least 90% of home buyers live outside the area and are buying their second or third homes, reports USA Today.
The reason they choose one side or the other sometimes comes down to taxes: Nevada has no state income tax, and the property taxes are a bit lower. That’s, in part, why price appreciation has been stronger on the Nevada side.
Home sales, though, are down on both sides, while Nevada has seen the sharper decline. In October, the median home price on the Nevada side was roughly $735,000, up nearly 12% from the year before. But sales plunged 47%.
“We were soft over the summer; sales definitely dropped,” says Edee Irge, an agent at Coldwell Banker Plummer on the Nevada side. “We’re seeing an increase of homes going under contract. Buyers were waiting to see and hoping that Incline Village (on the Nevada side) would slump like Reno had, but it hasn’t, so it’s picking up.”
Likewise, on the California side, which accounts for about two-thirds of the area’s population, the median price was up 5%, to about $701,800, though home sales were off about 6% as California mortgage applicants wait for prices to fall.
While prices are a bit lower on the California side, they’re still higher than what most year-round residents can afford. The median household income (on the California side) is about $34,000, so a lot of locals work more than one job, says Shellie Fischer of Aspen Realty.
Affordability is a problem for many seeking a California home loan; that’s why many are going into foreclosure this year.