Lake Tahoe Tops Redfin’s ‘Hottest Neighborhoods of 2021’

Beautiful light on Lake Tahoe. Photo by Artak Petrosyan.

The year of Covid-19 has left many city-dwellers pining for a home in the backdrop of the great outdoors. With a mass exodus occurring in the locked-down municipalities of the Bay Area, wealthy tech workers are flocking for a more spread-out scene – and Tahoe is at the top of that list.

Redfin announced its Hottest Neighborhoods of 2021 with Lake Tahoe topping the list, citing the mass exodus of San Francisco residents looking to work from home in the beautiful surroundings of Big Blue. While it’s hard to consider Tahoe a “neighborhood,” there certainly isn’t any reason to argue their logic.

Here’s what Redfin said about the emerging Tahoe real estate market:

1. Lake Tahoe, CA

Zip code: 96145
Parent metro area: Sacramento, CA
Median sale price: $945,000 (+28% YoY)
Median sale price of parent metro area: $480,000 (+17% YoY)Median days on market: 48 (-25 days YoY)
Change in home sales: +87% YoY
Change in median views per listing: +280% YoY
Share of homes that sold above list price: 36%

“The Lake Tahoe housing market is hotter than ever. People are coming from San Francisco in droves and they’re bringing their Bay Area salaries with them—everyone here drives a Tesla now,” said Redfin real estate agent Jaime Moore. “City folks have decided that if they have to work from home and shelter in place, they might as well do it in the mountains. In their mind, Lake Tahoe is affordable because they can buy a second home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms for $750,000. In the Bay Area, they’d be lucky to find a one-bedroom condo for that price.”

Moore continued: “The housing market in Lake Tahoe typically slows down in the winter months and ramps back up in the spring, but this year, we’re still seeing tons of buyers in December. Homes are listing for $500,000 and selling for $700,000. People are just sick of the city. They’re coming here and buying modern homes—not the rustic cabins you might think of when you think of Lake Tahoe. They want the same thing they have in the Bay Area, but in a mountain setting.”

North Lake Tahoe is particularly popular because it’s relatively affordable and  has fewer regulations on Airbnb rentals—a major draw for buyers who plan to use their home as an investment property, Moore added.

What the article failed to mention is the longtime Tahoe residents who are watching their beloved homes become Bay Area East. The rustic nature of the Tahoe region is its charm and the incoming cash influx will bring with it gentrification seen so often in the Bay Area.

With that said, Tahoe locals now sit in a rare opportunity to sell their homes for a hefty asking price. Will this be the end of Tahoe as we know it?

Active NorCal

Telling the Stories of Northern California
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