Luxury Trends: 4th Quarter 2024 by Dickson Realty

LuxuryTrends

4TH QUARTER 2024

$3,450,000

51 In Business years

$8,371,415,427 In Sold Volume Since 2019

13,340 In Sold Transactions Since 2019

344 Local Real Estate Experts

12 Offices

Looking Ahead to 2025: Optimism, Insights, and Community Support

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year! We at Dickson Realty hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a smooth transition into 2025. It’s hard to believe we’re already halfway through January –time really has flown since Thanksgiving!

Despite the challenges of the past year, we’re feeling a renewed sense of optimism and excitement about the year ahead. Perhaps it’s because the long election cycle is finally behind us, but the luxury market is starting to feel more stable, predictable, and “normal.” Luxury buyers and sellers are slowly emerging from the sidelines, making plans and preparing for the future.

For this report, I’ve examined the data from a regional perspective. In the luxury market across Northern Nevada and California, buyers now have more options than ever before, and they’re no longer as tied to specific cities or locations. Luxury sales in 2024 spanned the Carson Valley, Lake Tahoe, and Reno neighborhoods such as Somersett, Caughlin Ranch, and Rancharrah, extending all the way through the southwest suburbs, the Mount Rose Corridor, and even up to Virginia City Highlands. Our sister city of Sparks also saw some stunning luxury properties sell.

Although it didn’t always feel this way during the year, we actually sold more properties priced over $1,000,000 in 2024 than in 2023. Our agents can attest to the fact that these transactions were more complex, with buyers being increasingly discerning and cautious. In fact, more buyers than usual walked away after their due diligence. But overall, we’re starting to feel that our market is beginning to normalize.

For more details on the current market trends, please contact your favorite Dickson Realty agent or broker. They’d be happy to discuss what they’re seeing and how it might affect you.

Before I close, we want to send our thoughts and prayers to the families and friends impacted by the devastating fires in Southern California. In response, we’ve worked with the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada to compile a list of trusted organizations that are providing immediate help. You can find that list here.

We look forward to connecting with you throughout 2025!

Warm regards,

CEO, Dickson Realty

Nv. License B.0019733CORP

775-691-2674

Luxury

5 Real Estate Companies

2024 Market Share for Reno/Sparks Homes Sold Over $1 Million*

Luxury Home Sales By Month

Median Sales Price Per Area

$4,955,000

138.6 48 Average Days On Market Homes Sold All Areas Overall

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Dickson Realty is a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World,® a global community of real estate companies awarded membership based on rigorous standards for service and performance. Every fifteen minutes a quality client introduction is made within Leading Real Estate Companies of the World.® As a member of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World,® Dickson Realty combines authentic, local expertise with global connections to the highest quality real estate firms worldwide. We’re Local. We’re Global.

1.2 Million annual global transactions

550 companies

$586 Billion total annual home sales volume

4,800 offices

134,000 sales associates

70+ countries 6 spanning continents

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Luxury Living

Explore our handpicked selection of exceptional homes, each chosen for their distinctive style and quality craftsmanship across Northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe, and Truckee.

AVAILABLE

35 Greybull Court

Reno, Nevada

Offered at $3,450,000

Chris Yochum (775) 432-4020

7450 Bryan Canyon Road

Washoe

6705 Rabbit Brush Court Reno,

5192 Bordeaux Drive

80 Caballada Street Unit 12-2

Reno, Nevada AVAILABLE Offered at $2,225,000

Heather Houston (828) 489-8124

AVAILABLE

11736 Hope Court #A

Truckee, California

Offered at $1,795,000

Scott Silva (805) 904-9403

320 Independence Lake Road Sierraville, California AVAILABLE Offered at $2,000,000

Craig Macleod (530) 414-4151

1835 Dove Mountain Court Reno, Nevada AVAILABLE

at $1,699,000

David Hughes (775) 771-1783

Will travel for Tenor

Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, Italy

Photo via Adobe Stock

The drama of the opera continues to call audiences into historic theaters across Europe

By LISA KLEIN

The booming echo of the bass, a baritone’s big aria, tenors in perfect harmony, a lofty soprano trill — the sounds of the opera have captivated audiences for centuries; many will tell you the art form is something you just feel. Add to that a background of orchestral excellence, dramatic plotlines, fantastical sets on sweeping stages, opulent costumes and some of the most lavish theaters ever built, and the opera simply awes.

“At its best, it is moving, transcendent, life-affirming,” says David Merritt, founder and president of Canadabased Aria Tours, which organizes opera-centric trips. “What could be better than sitting in the Met or La Scala in Milan or Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and hearing the best musicians and singers in the world perform some of the most sublime music ever created? It’s a gift to be able to experience it.”

An opera is drama through music — a play where the entire story is told through song. The word is actually the plural of opus, latin for the “work” of a composer, so an opera can be thought of as many of these works strung together. It has its roots in late-16th-century Florence, Italy, where a group known as the Florentine Camerata tried their hand at recreating Greek dramas told through music. Jacopo Peri is credited with writing the first, Dafne, in 1597. All of Europe was feeling opera almost immediately — but they were still written only in Italian for nearly 200 years, later expanding to German, French and other languages. To put on such dramas, ornate sets were built and even more ornate opera houses constructed for the enormous stages required to hold them — and their audiences.

Palais Garnier, Paris, France Photo via Adobe Stock

Vienna State Opera, Vienna, Austria Photo via Adobe Stock

Opera composers became stars, their works still performed today and known by singular names to even those who don’t know opera. In the Baroque era, 1600–1750, it was George Frideric Handel (Aggripina, Rinaldo). In the classical period, 1750–1830, it was the one and only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute). The Romantic period, 1830–1900, saw opera becoming grander than ever, thanks to Gioachino Rossini (The Barber of Seville, Cinderella), Richard Wagner (Der Ring des Nibelungen, Ride of the Valkyries), Giuseppe Verdi (La Traviata, Aida) and Georges Bizet (Carmen). In the 20th century, there was Giacomo Puccini (Madama Butterfly, La Bohème).

Opera super-fans in the 21st century travel to Europe, and elsewhere in the world, taking in hundreds and even thousands of performances. “Some take five tours a year with me; one gentleman is at 35 tours now,” Mr. Merritt says of opera buffs’ dedication to the art. “I have many regular clients who are like opera Deadheads, the devoted followers of The Grateful Dead who frequently travel to see the band. Many travel to hear specific singers — Lise Davidsen is the current star du jour; others travel for specific composers, such as Wagner or Verdi.”

Many of Mr. Merritt’s regulars will attend any tour that includes a full cycle of Wagner’s Ring, a series of four operas with a total running time of about 15

hours, usually performed alone or together over four nights. The storyline involves gods, mythical creatures and other heroes all battling over a magical ring that grants ultimate power. “On my recent tour for the Ring in Zurich, one regular client announced he’d seen the four-opera cycle 30 times,” Mr. Merritt says. “Believe me, there are plenty of folks out there who’ve seen it twice as many times. The most famous iteration is in Bayreuth, Germany, each year in the opera house that Wagner had built to his specifications — including minimal padding on seats, the orchestra under the stage and no air-conditioning, which can be interesting in August.”

Mr. Merritt’s personal favorites include those by Puccini. “Many opera aficionados will look down their nose at you if you say Puccini, but the music is undeniable,” he says. “I’m a sucker for melody, and Puccini is hard to beat. Verdi and Wagner took longer for me to ‘get,’ but hearing Nabucco at La Scala [in Milan] and Tannhäuser in Munich changed everything.”

The opera houses themselves can certainly enhance the whole experience, with must-see, often historic locales on every Operahead’s list, from the reconstructed La Fenice in Venice to the glorious Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, built in 1737. Across the rest of Europe, there are famed stages to be found in Paris, Vienna, Munich, Madrid, Zurich, Budapest, Valencia,

La Scala, Milan, Italy

Photo via Adobe Stock

London — nearly everywhere one can hear an overture wafting through the air.

Aside from performances, the sites of opera’s history beckon travelers, too. “The annual Verdi Festival in Parma is a pilgrimage, of sorts, for many,” Mr. Merritt says. “People want to see Verdi’s birth house in Le Roncole and Sant Agata, his country estate. I have special access to these sites, so it’s nice to be able to share that with clients. We also have special access at the Casa di Riposo in Milan, where Verdi is buried. It’s a retirement home for musicians that he established in 1896, and it’s pretty special to hear the residents giving vocal or piano lessons to young students.”

This interest extends to singers, too, who are stars of the opera world in their own right, like the late, worldfamous Luciano Pavarotti. “I’ve taken groups to the cathedral in Modena where Pavarotti used to sing with his father and to Pavarotti’s grave at Montale Rangone,” Mr. Merritt says. “These artists mean so much to my clients and these sites are sacred for them.”

Afficionados know putting an opera on is no small feat for the people behind the productions. And for an opera to really move the audience, all the pieces must work just right. “The orchestra has to be ‘on,’ the conductor has to treat the music and lead the orchestra perfectly, the staging — whether it’s

traditional or modern — can’t distract or detract from the music,” Mr. Merritt says. “And then the music itself is so challenging that it’s hard enough for the singers to nail the performance, and they also have to act. The stars have to align for it to be A-one.”

THESE MOMENTS ARE what opera lovers travel for, usually preferring to see traditional productions of the classics, but even purists may be open to modernized staging and costumes, English subtitles and new interpretations of stories for the present day. There are also new operas being written by contemporary composers, many acclaimed and which address more current topics.

Whether an opera is a modern-day masterpiece or an enduring gem, these musical wonders continue to give their audiences that feeling of awe. “Great art is timeless, and opera is no different,” Mr. Merritt says. “I think it represents the pursuit of excellence, but also beauty. The best musicians, conductors, singers, directors, stage crews and costume designers, all creating glorious art in the most beautiful venues in the world — what’s not to love?”

National Theatre, Munich, Germany

Photo via Adobe Stock