In this paper we propose a simple and computationally attractive difference-based variance estimator in nonparametric regression models with multivariate predictors. We show that the estimator achieves $n^{-1/2}$ rate of convergence for regression functions with only a first derivative when d, the dimension of the predictor, is less than or equal to 4. When d > 4, the rate turns out to be $n^{-4/(d+4)}$ under the first derivative condition for the regression functions. A numerical study suggests that the proposed estimator has a good finite sample performance.