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Jun. 09, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas median home price falls 1.2 percent in May

BY HUBBLE SMITH
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Home sales continued to post big numbers in May and the median price dipped 1.2 percent, or $1,720, from the previous month, the smallest decline since November 2007, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported today.

The inventory of homes on the market, a major concern for local housing analysts, declined 9.3 percent from a year ago to 21,181, leaving supply at about seven months. Realtors sold 3,255 single-family homes during the month, a 60.7 percent increase from a year ago. The median price was $140,000, down 40.9 percent from May 2008.


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    • Counting 737 condo and townhouse units sold in May, Las Vegas had nearly 4,000 total sales, one of the best months on record, said Sue Naumann, president of the Realtors association.

    “So there’s plenty of activity in our local housing market,” she said. “We’re down in inventory so we’re starting to move things out of the market and I’m sure a great deal of it is REOs (real estate-owned).”

    Any further price deterioration will be caused by foreclosure properties, which account for about 80 percent of Las Vegas home sales, Naumann said.

    “We had a bank moratorium that expired June 1, but I still don’t think they’re going to flood the market,” she said. “It would be devastating if they did.”

    Real-estate owned inventory, or bank-owned homes, fell 29 percent from a year ago to 2,992, roughly one-fourth of the total single-family home inventory, David Brownell of Keller Williams Realty said. There were 3,092 REO closings and 6,029 pending sales, up 124 percent and 78 percent, respectively, from a year ago.

    For condos and townhomes, the median price was $65,000, down 53.4 percent from a year ago, but up 0.8 percent from the previous month. Inventory grew 2.3 percent to 5,572. Realtors took 4,211 new listings in May at an average price of $150,000, down 3.8 percent from the previous month and 36.2 percent from a year ago.

    Naumann said many homes are priced below what it would cost to build them today and people are recognizing opportunities to buy.

    “We’re starting to see that maybe the market’s going to rebound here. At least with sales it has,” she said.

    Statistics are based on data collected from the Multiple Listing Service and does not necessarily account for new homes sold by builders, sales by owner and other transactions not involving a Realtor.

    Single-family listings that entered into a contract topped 10,000, indicating that closings should remain strong over the coming weeks, Frank Nason of Residential Resources said.

    One possible counter-trend to the increase in purchase contracts is volatility in the mortgage market, he said.

    Buyers who were waiting to lock in their loans when rates hit 4.5 percent are likely to be washed out of the mix as 30-year fixed mortgage rates skyrocketed to 5 percent last week.

    “If rates don’t come back down quickly, many who did not lock their loans will be cancelled out of the lender’s system,” Nason said.

     

    Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.

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    Have I got a deal for you wrote on June 09, 2009 07:37 PM: "We’re down in inventory so we’re starting to move things out of the market"

    Sounds like those snakes at United Dodge that just lost their Chrysler fanchise.


    My Dumb Realtor wrote on June 09, 2009 07:35 PM: She told me and my old lady that we would get a big tax writeoff when I bought the house because of the $10,000 in interest and taxes being deductible.

    I talked to my tax man and he told me the real estate lady was a dopey blond putz! (Something about my standard deduction being higher and I get no benefit).

    Add to fact half the houses on my block are now in foreclosure, the plumbing is that defective Kitek leaking stuff, the rental two doors down is infested with gang bangers, and there is an old 73 Ford up on blocks and missing it's motor.

    This doesn't sound like the American dream to me. Should have stayed in my apartment.


    Dirty "D" = Vegas wrote on June 09, 2009 07:21 PM: In Detroit, you can buy a house for about the price of a "Happy Meal". Think I am kidding, take a look at MLS data from that area:

    Detroit Real Estate


    Yes, it will get much worse here.


    Bad News on the Horizon wrote on June 09, 2009 07:18 PM: I just took a look at MLS.

    Of the approx 22,000 homes available for sale, approximately 10,500 are short sales !!!!!

    Most short sales are a nightmare to close, with the lender(s) unwilling or unable to agree. After 3 - 6 months, the buyer, totally upset, walks or is told `No-Deal'. The seller, now contemplating suicide, trashes the place and does his own `walking'.

    A year or so later, after foreclosure is complete, the trash heap is placed on the market.

    Mix this happy scenario in with a growing Vegas unemployment rate and the cycle worsens.

    WELCOME TO THE LAS VEGAS NIGHTMARE!!!!



    Hi Again (-: wrote on June 09, 2009 07:05 PM: Yes,, it is your local neighborhood Bimbo Realtor, and her assistant, the lil blond bimbet!

    NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!!! Remember, the “door bell” doesn’t ring at the bottom.

    BUY, BUY, BUY!!

    Ignore this fictious bad news about the 1.2%. Now is a great time to buy!


    BUY, BUY, BUY and I give you $25 Happy Time rebate at close of escrow!

    P.S.- Hubble, you silly goose you,, what is with this negativity? Why the big print about the 1.2% drop in price? This is just a minor problem. (Just like hurricane Katrina, other than the wind and the water, that was a minor thing also).

    Most of your story was good news (-: It is good to see people with b_alls of steel and try to catch that falling knife. It builds character.




    casinocon wrote on June 09, 2009 06:26 PM: Oh yeah, a FLOOD of Foreclosures is fixin' to hit, and the bottom will DEFINITELY fall out . . . couple that with everyone who is so disgusted with the plummeting value of their home that they are contemplating walking away (i.e. new foreclosures) and I wouldn't worry too much about interest rates if you are looking to buy, because home prices will be so cheap you won't have to take out a mortgage to buy one!


    rjC wrote on June 09, 2009 05:54 PM: Guess it's still time to buy! Well not yet. Willing to gamble a bit and bet the 29th month is rock bottom. After all, we live in a gambling town!


    2zero wrote on June 09, 2009 04:51 PM: The good news is; YOUR HOME LOST VALUE FOR THE NINETEENTH CONSECUTIVE MONTH!

    The bad news is; Realtor's are making 1% fees on REO sales....

    My mistake, it is the other way around.


    David. wrote on June 09, 2009 03:07 PM: Free Nevada,

    Could not agree more, banks are holding back major inventory, if they dumped what they had in inventory the market would crater. All we need is Larry Murphy in this article citing more mind numbing stats about the market turning around.


    Free Nevada wrote on June 09, 2009 12:41 PM: > The inventory of homes on the market, a major concern for local housing analysts, declined 9.3 percent from a year ago to 21,181.

    Should be "The MLS inventory of homes on the market..."

    because the banks are not putting their whole inventory up for sale all at once and they can foreclose on new homes in sync with moving buyers into their existing REO homes. Since there is actually a near-endless supply of foreclosures (from Subprime, mass-unemployment and now AltA/OptionARM resets), the net effect is that each sale brings the median prices down an inch further with no end for many years.


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