The North Lake Tahoe region offers dynamic options when it comes to purchasing a vacant homesite. The motivation behind these homesite purchases is also quite dynamic and has evolved over the past couple of years. A plethora of speculative building, and the transition of developer homesite sales into resales, have become important factors in our market statistics. Diving deep into these Truckee resort communities and dissecting the statistics of these homesite purchases offers use some specific observations.
Vintage construction and outdated inventory in the Tahoe basin have consumers craving the new trends of the Truckee resort communities with new construction and the option to build a new custom home. This movement has kept the volume of homesite sales increasing despite rising building costs. As developer homesite inventory diminishes each year from communities like Martis Camp and Schaffer’s Mill, the resale inventory becomes more active. Martis Camp’s transition into this resale market has helped exaggerate the 2016 homesite volume, but other communities with strong resale inventory have confirmed the attraction towards vacant land.
Brand new speculative home sales have become a vibrant aspect to the market of these Truckee resort communities. Buyers looking for turn-key product are willing to pay a premium to bypass the 2-year building process. In 2016, nearly 1/3 of the single family homes sold in these Truckee resort communities were brand new homes. This aspect, along with energetic new resort amenities, have most buyers moving away from Tahoe and in to the Truckee basin. Local builders and architects and are creating new alluring functional layouts and finishes, styles found scarcely in the Tahoe Basin.
The trend in Tahoe home ownership has evolved from lake shore living into a dynamic trendy custom finishes and designs. Buildings cost rising faster than values have not outweighed the value of having something new and custom in the mind of our consumers. The idea of owning a new age custom dream home for the family in Tahoe is not a dream anymore, it is the expectation.