Las Vegas Real Estate Guide
Las Vegas Real Estate Information
Las Vegas Population Information
In 2006, the population
of Las Vegas, Nevada was estimated to be 552,539 which was a growth of 15.1% from 2000 when the population was 478,434
(1). In 2000, there were 190,724 housing units which were home to 176,750 households (1). The percent of ownership
of these housing units was 59.1% and the median value of these owned homes was $137,300(1).
In 2006, the population
of North Las Vegas, Nevada was estimated to be 197,567 which grew at the incredible rate of 71.1% from 2000 when the population
was 115,488 (2). In 2000, there were 36,600 housing units which were home to 34,018 households (2). The percentage of
ownership of these housing units was 70.1% and the median value of these owned homes was $123,000.
By 2006, the population of
Henderson, Nevada had grown to 240,614 from 175,381 in 2000 representing a growth rate of 37.2% (3). In 2000 there were 71,149
housing units which was home to 66,331 households (3). The ownership percentage of these housing units was 70.5% with the median
value of thoses owned homes was $156,000 (3).
Clark County which includes Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las
Vegas, also includes Boulder City and Mesquite. Clark County saw its population grow from 1,375,535 in 2000 to an estimated
1,865,746 in 2008 representing a growth rate of 35.6% (4). The number of housing units was 810,602 with 35.6% being in mult-unit
complexes such as condos which were home to 512,253 households in 2000 (4). The ownership percentage of these housing units
was 59.1% with the median value of those owned homes being $139,500 (4).
Las Vegas Real Estate News
The Las Vegas real estate
market was a mixed bag in 2009 with sales increasing while prices where dropping (5). According to the Greater Las Vegas Association
of Realtors (GLVAR) and Prudential Americana Group Realtors, there were 95000 real estate transaction resulting in 47500 property
sales but the average selling price had dropped from $204,000 in December 2008 to $165,000 in December 2009 which is an overall drop
of over 17.5% in term of selling price (5). In December 2009, 776 condos and townhomes were sold in the Las Vegas area
which was almost 71% increase in sales when compared to December 2009 but the sales price dropped on average by 28% with the median
sales price of these real estate properties being $65,300 (6). The one positive point was when compared in the drop from
December 2007 to December 2008 which was 33%, there appears to be a huge decline in the devaluation rate of Las Vegas real estate
(5). In December 2009, about 70% of all real estate listing in the Las Vegas market were short sales requiring a bank approval
(6). This was a significant change which caused the properties actually sold as foreclosures to have dropped from 67% in January
2009 to 60% in December of the same year (6). 46,879 single-family homes, condos, and townhouses were sold in 2009
resulting in a over 163% increase in sales as compared to 2008 when only 28,618 of these type of housing units were sold but
is still far less when the Las Vegas area in 2004 saw nearly 72,000 of the various housing units sold (6). In 2009, there
were bank owned closing of 33,974; short sale closing of 5,422; and traditional sales closings of 7,688 (7).
In
January of 2010, sales of homes soared by 17.3% from January 2009 but the average price of homes dropped to $134,925 representing
a decline of 15.7% in median price of homes (8). A somewhat positive note was that this represented only a decline 0.8% from
December 2009 median sales price. The number of short sales was 21.1% and bank owned sales of real estate declined from 60.1%
to 57.4% which was a postive note (8). There was sales of 658 condos and townhomes in January with a median sales price of $69,000
representing a 5.7% increase over December price but still down 13.8% from a year ago.
There was some upbeat news
on the Las Vegas real estate market. The go-head on the sale of the stalled Fontainebleau Hotel project to Financier
Carl Icahn for $150 million will hopefully get this project going again and create more jobs in Vegas. Another factor which
could be promising for the Las Vegas real estate market is the bad weather in the Midwest and East Coast which could cause weather-weary
seniors to considered moving to this Nevada city (9).
In February of 2010 as in other recent months, the recent trends continue
with sales increasing (4.5%) but median sales price declining (12.8 %) as compared to a year ago (10). There are some potential
upside factors with cash-only median sale price increasing to $135,694 from $134,925 representing a 0.6% increase and the decrease
in the number of homes listed for sale 20,262 which was a 8% decline (10). In February, a total of 3800 properties went
on the auction block with 550 brought by third parties (11).
The Las Vegas economy continues to decline with sales
declining by 8.4% in December from 2008 Decembers levels with motor vehicle and parts sales declining by 0.7% (12).
Taxable sales from food and drinking establishments decreased by 17.6% from a year ago.
Individuals who brought vacant lots
in the past 10 years have seen their investment hopes crushed (13).
In March 2010, sales climbed to 3,175 representing a climb
of 32.8% from the previous month and 6,5% from April 2009 but at a cost of a 8.7% decline in median home sales price to $136,000 (14). Short
Sales now comprise 25% of the market compared to only 8% a year ago (14). Sales of Condos and Townhomes increased by 34.8% but
prices dropped by 3.3 to $68,200 (14).
In April 2010, single home prices were up 0.02 from April 2009 prices and up 4.4%
from March's prices to a price of $142,000 (15). Sales declined by 7.7% to 2951 in April and the inventory of houses for sale
declined by 5.6 to 20,875 units (15).
In May 2010, for rhe second straight month, median selling price of homes rose as
compared to one year ago with the sales price being $142,000 representing a 1.4% icrease in price but the number of sales declined
by 11.4% as compared to May 2009 (16). One good news was that condos and townhouses showed 10.8% incease in sales price
to $72,000 as compared to last May and total sales rose 4.3% with 769 units sold (16).
The continueing bad news on the Las Vegas
real estate market continues with a prediction of a 5% decline in new home sales prices (16). The new home median price
declined to $182,440 in June down 12.7 percents from a year ago (17). The only good news was even though prices in June had
declined 58% for existing home from $123,000, it was only a decline of 2% in last 14 months (17).
In July, the
continue decline in housing prices saw drop to $126,000 from a peak value in 2006 of $285,000 resulting in much less tax revenue (18).
The bad news just doesn't stop. Multiple Listing Services home inventory increased by 6.5% from a year ago in July to
21750 (18). Realtors sold 21.1 percent less home for previous July and sales were down 12.3 percent from June (18). The average
median price in July was $135,000 which represents a decline of 3.6 percent and 2.7 percent from June and the previous year's July
sales prices (19).
In August of 2010, the rate of foreclosures continued to increase with banks repossessing 95,364 homes
which represented a 3% from July and a whopping 25% increas from August 2009 (20). In August the number of new home sales
was 401 while in August 2009, the number was 426 and the resale of homes fell to 3,313 from 3,833 a year ago (21). The median
price of new homes rose from $210,000 to 220,000 while existing homes remained unchange at $122,000 as compared to a year ago (21).
The
big Las Vegas real estate news for September was the sharp drop in single family homes which drop by 16.4% to 2,806 and the sharp
rise in inventory of 9.2% to 22,719 as compared to September 2009 along with 2.2% drop in price of those homes $135,000 as compared
to a year ago (22). The sale of condos and townhomes also dropped by 7.2% to 797 with a drop of 1.1% in median price to $65,000
as compared to September 2009 (22).
In October 2010, the number of home sales dropped by 26.5% as compared
to a year ago (23). The median home price was down to $133,000 representing a drop of 1.5% since September and 4.4% since last
October. Even condo and townhomes were way down in sales and price.
In November 2010, the news was actually good. Las Vegas
was the 3rd highest city seeing an increase in home prices (24). The prices of homes increase by 4.7% from October but still
sales decrease by 4.9% from October and 25.9% from a year ago (24).
Sources Cited
(3).
U. S. Census Bureau (3). "Henderson (city),
Nevada " 01 July 2009. U. S Census Bureau. 12 Jan. 2010.
(4). U. S. Census Bureau (4). "Clark County, Nevada" 01 July 2009. U. S Census Bureau. 12 Jan. 2010.
(5).Bay, Carrie. "Las Vegas Real Estate Posts 2009 Positives Despite Recession" 11 Jan 2010. DSnews. 12 Jan 2010.
(9). Wargo, B. " In real estate, Las Vegas sitting pretty for weather-weary seniors" 15 Feb 2010. Las Vegas
Sun. 20 Feb 2010.
(10). Smith, H. "2,390 HOMES SOLD IN FEBRUARY: Local home sales up, prices down" 14 Mar 2010. . 14 Mar 2010.
(11). Maimon, A. "Real estate auctions remain active, draw eclectic clientele" 05 Apr 2010. Las Vegas Review-Journal. 06
Apr 2010.
(12). Edwards,
J. G. "NEVADA ECONOMY: Sales down but not as much" 24 Feb 2010. Las Vegas Review-Journal. 25 Feb 2010.
(15) Smith. H. "HOUSING: Las Vegas home prices show small annual increase" 15 Nov 2010. Las Vegas Review-Journal.
10 May 2010.
