Distress Sales Holding Down Land Prices

LAS VEGAS-Demand for vacant land continues to be spurred by lender-involved transactions in the third quarter, further driving down prices, according to research by locally based business advisory firm Applied Analysis. Traditional arms-length transactions represented only 9.8% of total market sales during the third quarter, according to AA principal Brian Gordon.

“Demand for raw land has slid to almost a six-year low across the Las Vegas valley in terms of pricing [and values are] likely to … remain stalled as long as the commercial sector continues to maintain record-high vacancy rates, foreclosure pressures persist in the housing market, and access to credit markets remain tight,” Gordon says. “This does not mean investors will let opportunity pass them by, with nearly 90 percent of recent transactions involving a lender through a trustee sale or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, pockets of opportunity may emerge as both buyers and sellers reset their expectations.”

Sales volumes have increased slightly over the last two quarters but remain below the volume traded during the same quarter of the prior year, according to the report. The third quarter of 2009 marked the third consecutive increase in sales volume in terms of acres, with 415.8 acres being transferred, up 5.1% from the second quarter of 2009 but down 2.7% from the third quarter of 2008. The size of the year-over-year decline in terms of acres has decreased since the beginning of the year, Gordon says.