LAS VEGAS—According to statistics released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS (GLVAR), Southern Nevada's housing market started 2013 in much the same way it ended 2012, with rising home prices and a tight housing supply.

“Local home prices continue to go up, and that's generally good news for homeowners, sellers and most people who live here,” said 2013 GLVAR President Dave Tina, a longtime local REALTOR who succeeded Kolleen Kelley as GLVAR president on Jan. 1. “At the same time, we only have about a six-week supply of available homes to offer buyers. That's not enough to meet demand. This lack of inventory continues to be one of our biggest challenges.”

January's GLVAR statistics showed a decline in the number of short sales – which occur when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage. For more than a year, GLVAR has been documenting a shift from foreclosures to short sales. The percentage of existing homes sold as part of a short sale set a local record in December 2012, accounting for 45.8 percent of all sales. Bank-owned sales, which made up about 80 percent of all sales four years ago, accounted for only 9.5 percent of all local home sales in December. But in January, short sales slipped to 36.2 percent of all existing local home sales, while bank-owned sales bounced back a bit to 12.5 percent of all sales.