Las Vegas housing numbers for August

The August home sales numbers were released for the Las Vegas market. It just shows that you can massage data to give you the number you want. Agents will probably be touting the statistic that shows the median new home price increasing by 4% from last August to $338,560. However sales fell by 39.9%, how could the price go up with sharply falling sales? Easy, luxury high rises are being completed and sales are closing escrow. A good percentage of these buyers are using them as second homes and these condos have a median price of $645,353. These high rise sales didn't exist last August and they are pushing the median price up.

A better indicator of the market would be the resale segment. Resales are down 43.4% from a year ago and the median price has dropped 5% to $275,000.

To keep things in perspective, the median price of resales has increased 110% since 2000 and 25% since 2004.

Another major factor in Nevada is a new law that is scheduled to take effect October 1st (AB440) which will make it almost impossible for lenders to offer stated income loans. Many local lenders have already taken these loans off the table.

Interesting times, for sure.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:01AM

Mark Azevedo

Residential Real Estate Agent · CA

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Sep 20 '07, 01:24 PM

Good insights Rehab702 and nice to meet you.

I'm a Realtor in No. Cal and traded an email or two with a Realtor in So. NV. I had heard the stories and wanted to get an opinion from someone working in that market.

He shared that there is a 15 month supply of homes. And we know that anything over 6 mo is a buyer's market. They have about 27,000 homes on the market coupled with 535 new housing developments. That is a lot of inventory to absorb.

The bright spot is that the local economy is strong and they are seeing job creation. More jobs, more people. More people, more sales. It will take sometime of course. How long? Who knows. My crystal ball has been in the shop for what seems like forever! ;)

Mark

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:01AM

Brian McClain

Residential Real Estate Agent · Salt Lake City, NV

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Oct 24 '07, 10:27 PM

Good information.

Thanks

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:10AM

N/A N/A

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Oct 28 '07, 10:03 PM

I would be interested to know how the statistics are looking this month for the sake of comparison in your market. I love numbers. :D

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:11AM

Jennifer Karlen

Residential Real Estate Agent · Kentucky

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Oct 28 '07, 10:31 PM

Yup, same. I'm a numbers person as well.

[By the way: Ouch on the 40% drop in sales in the original post.]

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:11AM

Richard Warren

Real Estate Investor · Las Vegas, Nevada

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Oct 29 '07, 01:09 AM

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but they were not good. There were only about 985 single family homes sold off of the MLS in September which was a sharp drop from August and a huge drop from the previous year.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:11AM

Lynn Z

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Oct 31 '07, 06:24 AM

I noted 3 upscale brick townhomes (new construction) in one development in the recent published transfers in the $600-800k range. Big figure real estate here in South Carolina except on the coast of course. These are primary residential folks moving into downtown. Brick/great builder/good location.

Ten blocks up there are two huge twin condo developments that made the statement to the press that they're not pre-selling 223k range units as expected. Only about 20%. There are $600k and up homes just sitting (some well over a year) that are in great in town neighborhoods that aren't selling. One just moved but took a $79k cut from asking price. It sat for well over a year and was heavily marketed. I think the folks just got tired of waiting. Lots of inventory and not many buyers but just lately I've seen more people out looking and attending open houses than I have for a long time.

Auctions have begun moving units in developments that built out 1-2 years ago and owners that paid full price are furious because they paid full price.

There are definite winners and losers in today's real estate market.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 04:12AM

Heidi Arndt

Real Estate Consultant · Dallas, Texas

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Mar 18 '10, 05:16 AM

Great posts!

I'm in the process of selling a new bulk condo deal in Las Vegas myself.

My seller's biggest hurdle has been that the comps that buyers are pulling in are exactly what you've indicated in your post, resales. Typically, foreclosures and short sales are what we've found.

What's compounded the difficulty in getting this particular deal to move is the fact that the comps that we do pull up are literally all over the board ranging from $121K to $4M within a 2 mile area.

Finally, the difficulty that we've also seen with the deal is that there is no real way to valuate assets such as HOAs, land value, or the amenities that are paid for every month by the owners/tenants. (At least not in a manner that's easily put into a spreadsheet for an investor.)

If anyone in the forum has some ideas with regards to showing the value of this 200 luxury condo package (including the club house, HOA, workout facilities, and land itself), please let me know.

I am always grateful for the group's help and support and, more importantly, your insight in these trying times.

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 12:07PM

Richard Warren

Real Estate Investor · Las Vegas, Nevada

1,826 posts
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Mar 18 '10, 07:01 AM

Originally posted by Heidi Arndt

Great posts!

I'm in the process of selling a new bulk condo deal in Las Vegas myself.

Heidi, you do realize that this thread is 3 years old , right?

It is interesting to look back. In the original post the median home price was stated as $275,000 - it is now $120,000. The median home price had fallen every single month since that original post - until December of 2009. December marked the first increase in 39 months.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/feb/23/report-las-vegas-home-prices-breaking-39-month-tre/

It is fun to see how far we've come in the last three years.

:cool:

Edited: 06/26/2010 at 12:07PM