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Las Vegas home prices flat, sales down
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Dec. 8, 2009 | 6:51 p.m.
Las Vegas housing prices remained flat at $140,000 in November while single-family home sales went into their seasonal slump at 3,117 closings, an 11.8 percent decrease from the previous month, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
“Home sales and activity traditionally slow down around the holidays, so we may see similar trends in the next month or two,” Realtors association president Sue Naumann said.
With 726 condo and townhouse sales, the total number of units sold in November was 3,843, compared with 4,385 in October. That’s up from 2,757 in November 2008.
The single-family median home price ticked up slightly to $140,000, an increase of 0.6 percent from $139,100 the previous month. It’s down 24.7 percent from a year ago.
The inventory of homes for sale on the market fell 8.4 percent from a year ago to 20,847 in November, though only 8,385 units are available without an offer. The others are in contract, or are contingent or pending on some other action.
Naumann said she has a first-time homebuyer waiting approval of a short sale — where a home is sold for less than the mortgage balance — and another short sale in the works. She’s also showing condos to a cash buyer, probably in the range of $125,000.
“There are a lot of buyers looking to take advantage of this market,” she said. “But there are other buyers out there and that’s their competition.”
Naumann said 41 percent of homes are being purchased with cash, about the same as October, an indication that investors have returned to the market. Bank-owned properties accounted for 61 percent of November sales, she said.
Real estate broker Dierdre Felgar of Realty America said she’s about at “whit’s end” dealing with the banks. They received government bailout money and were allowed to value foreclosure properties on future market values so they won’t be out of federal compliance, she said.
Now they don’t want to list properties for sale and realize the losses.
“Prices fell so low last year when banks dumped thousands of properties on the market ... they caused prices to tumble to 1997 or 1998 prices,” Felgar said. “This caused virtually everyone who purchased in the last 10 years to have a negative value on their property, making it impossible for them to sell because their homes are worth less than the mortgage.”
Banks are not putting enough homes on the market to keep up with demand, she said. Buyers find a home they like at a price they can afford, only to discover they’re up against 20 to 25 other offers. Banks will take up to 30 days to approve the sale, usually selecting a cash buyer over someone who needs financing.
David Brownell of Keller Williams Realty said he’s seeing an interesting shift from foreclosures to short sales as a higher percentage of total sales. Also, foreclosures and short sales comprised 80 percent of November sales, compared with 90 percent in January.
“There may be hope for private sellers,” Brownell said. “Or perhaps more of them have had their past-prices spirit broken and they have finally awakened to the actual market conditions.”
Statistics from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors are based on data collected from the Multiple Listing Service and do not necessarily account for sales by owners, homebuilders and transactions not involving a Realtor.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
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Right, Marge. Blame Bush. Keep blaming Bush for all of our ills and then suddenly, it will be election day and people who have failed under Bush and Obama will be voted out of office.
People like Harry Reid (D-MGM)who have failed as supposed leaders under both Democrat and Republican presidents.
Keep blaming Bush. The more the Left does so, the more obvious it is to everyone else that the Democrats have no clue how to lead and have no solutions.
The construction jobs may never return. It was all a sham. We can thank the old Bushwacker for all this mess. He was asleep at the wheel.
We should be thanking the investors coming in, not blaming them. Without them, we would be much worse off.
To Eddie: Get a life, you low-life. You don't even have the $ to buy any kind of home. Go away!! Your buddy the Bushwacker created this mess!!