SPARKS – The Reno/Sparks Association of Realtors today released its July 2009 report on existing home sales in Sparks, including median sales price and number of home sales in the region. The association obtains its information from the Northern Nevada Regional Multiple Listing Service (www.nnrmls.com) and includes sales of bank-owned (foreclosure) properties.

Sparks (including Spanish Springs) experienced 140 sales of existing single family homes in July 2009, an increase of 35 percent from July 2008 and a 17 percent decrease from the previous month. The Sparks’ median sales price for an existing single family residence in July 2009 was $172,500, a 27 percent drop from last year and a 4 percent decrease from June 2009. All sales numbers are for existing “stick built single family dwellings” only and do not include condominium, town home, manufactured, modular or new home sales. The existing condominium/town home median sales price for July 2009 in Sparks was $75,000, down 38 percent from last year.

“July’s numbers represent another strong month of transactions for the Greater Sparks area,” said Kris Layman, president of the Reno/Sparks realtors’ association. “Activity fell off slightly from a month earlier in terms of unit-volume but the Reno/Sparks market continued to show improvement with more than 500 closed transactions — a 31 percent increase from the same period in 2008. Although median sales price for the overall metro area did slightly fall (less than half of 1 percent) from June to July, this essentially flat price trend raises our hopes for a clear end to the declining prices our market has weathered over the past three years.”