Las Vegas Home Price Increases Lead Nation

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Single family home prices in Las Vegas are up 35.3 percent from a year ago, making Sin City the fastest growing residential market in the country, according to data released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.  

The median price of an existing single-family home sold in Southern Nevada in July was $180,000, compared to $133,000 a year earlier, a 2.9 percent increase from $175,000 in June, the association reports.

Condominium prices are up 37.6 percent from a year ago, with the median sale price at $91,500 in July, up 6.4 percent from $86,000 in June.

"Local home prices have been going up since February of 2012 and are now rising faster than anyplace else in the country," said GLVAR President Dave Tina in a statement.

Las Vegas was one of the markets hardest hit in the downturn and it has been one of the fastest to recover, in large part due to investors looking for distressed property. In July, 54.5 percent of transactions were all cash, down from 59.5 percent in February, GLVAR reports.

GLVAR also reports a decrease in the number of short and bank-owned sales. In July, 28 percent of sales were short sales, down from 31 percent in June. Traditional sales represented 64 percent of transactions in July, compared to 60 percent in June. The median price of bank-owned homes sold in July was $172,950, up from $163,750 in June.

The association also reports an increase in inventory, with 14,133 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of the month compared to 13,750 at the end of June. But the inventory was still 16.6 percent below last year.

Even with the recent activity, Las Vegas home prices are still far off the peak of $315,000 in June 2006.