LAS VEGAS-Local housing statistics just released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors offer more evidence that the Southern Nevada housing market is bouncing along the bottom. GLVAR president Rick Shelton, a longtime local realtor, explains that the latest statistics “are following seasonal trends and didn’t present any real surprises.”
According to GLVAR, the median singlefamily home price in Southern Nevada during October was $133,000, down 1.5% from $135,000 in September and down 4.4% from $139,100 in October of 2009. The median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in October was $65,000, matching September’s median price, and down 7.1% from $70,000 one year ago.
“As expected, we saw fewer local homes sold in October than September. This has been the case every year since at least 2005,” Shelton says. “We can also expect less activity in the coming months as we head into what is traditionally our slowest season for home sales. After weathering the holiday months of November, December and January, I’d expect local home sales and hopefully prices to pick up a bit through 2011.”
In October, 28% of all existing homes sold in Southern Nevada were short sales, which occur when a bank agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage. That’s down from 30% in September and a peak of 34% in June.
Meanwhile, bank-owned homes accounted for 42% of all existing local home sales in October, unchanged from September. That’s down from a 2010 peak of 53% in February.
The total number of local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in October was 3,385. That’s down from 3,603 in September and from 4,385 total sales one year ago—when Shelton said home sales were lifted by a now—expired federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers that had just been expanded to include repeat buyers.
The percentage of local homes purchased with cash continues to approach half of all home sales, accounting for 46.5% of all sales in October, up from 45.4% in September. Shelton says this percentage of cash buyers may be a modern-day record for Southern Nevada. “In fact,” he adds, “we’re not aware of any other major city in the nation that has seen such a high percentage of cash buyers for such a prolonged period of time. This speaks volumes about our housing market and how well-funded buyers believe that prices here will eventually appreciate.”
After five straight months of increasing inventory, GLVAR reported that the total number of homes listed for sale on its Multiple Listing Service declined slightly from September to October. GLVAR reported a total of 22,570 singlefamily homes listed for sale at the end of October. That’s down 0.7 percent from 22,719 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of September, but up 7.5% from one year ago. GLVAR reported a total of 5,892 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of October. That’s down 0.9% from 5,945 in September, but up 20.1% from one year ago.
At the same time, the number of available properties listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer increased. By the end of October, GLVAR reported 12,379 singlefamily homes listed without any sort of offer. That’s an increase of 4.1% from September and an increase of 53.3% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 3,314 properties listed without offers in October represented an increase of 5.2% from last month and 75.9% from last year.
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Natalie Dolce
Natalie Dolce, editor-in-chief of GlobeSt.com and GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum, is responsible for working with editorial staff, freelancers and senior management to help plan the overarching vision that encompasses GlobeSt.com, including short-term and long-term goals for the website, how content integrates through the company’s other product lines and the overall quality of content. Previously she served as national executive editor and editor of the West Coast region for GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum, and was responsible for coverage of news and information pertaining to that vital real estate region. Prior to moving out to the Southern California office, she was Northeast bureau chief, covering New York City for GlobeSt.com. Her background includes a stint at InStyle Magazine, and as managing editor with New York Press, an alternative weekly New York City paper. In her career, she has also covered a variety of beats for M magazine, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, FashionLedge.com, and Co-Ed magazine. Dolce has also freelanced for a number of publications, including MSNBC.com and Museums New York magazine.
