Tahoe Demand Drives Up Truckee Prices

If you are looking to buy a house in Truckee, CA, expect to dole out half a million dollars or more.

The median price of a home in the area climbed by over $100,000 from 2003 to 2004. This means the median price of a home is now $539,900, according to a year-end market report by Chase International.

The region, near Lake Tahoe, is a huge skiing and summer lure for northern Californians. It includes Truckee, Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows,
The 24 percent jump in a one-year period outpaced increases around the entire Lake Tahoe area, except for Tahoe City, which grew at the exact same 24 percent rate, according to the report. The median home price in town stood at $435,000 at the end of 2003.

Ron Hemig, a real estate broker with Hemig and Erle Real Estate in Truckee, is quoted in the resort as saying one effect of rising home prices is a spillover influence on neighboring areas like Sierra County.

As out-of-area buyers drive up prices in Truckee, Hemig sees more and more local owners cashing in and moving to Loyalton, Sierraville and Graeagle. And those locals that have not bought a house in town are often tempted by the lower mortgages in the Sierra Valley.

As a result, he says, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on one acre in Loyalton is going for an average of $350,000, similar to prices in Truckee a couple of years ago.

Truckee, where sales of over $1 million properties grew by 63 percent last year, is now attracting more of a resort and luxury market buyer.

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