Las Vegas Housing Market Enjoys Fifth Straight Monthly Price Gains in June

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Based on statistics released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), existing home prices in June increased for the fifth straight month, as the supply of local homes listed for sale continues to tighten.

"We haven't seen local home prices go up for this long since 2004," said GLVAR President Kolleen Kelley, a longtime local Realtor. "Banks are putting far fewer homes on the market than they did in past years. This is leading to a very tight housing supply that is pushing up prices - at least for now. Only time will tell if these recent price increases prove to be somewhat artificial. I think it depends largely on how banks handle the mortgage defaults in their portfolios."

Even with fewer sales last month and fewer homes listed for sale each month this year, Kelley said existing home sales are ahead of the record pace set in 2011, when GLVAR reported 48,186 existing properties were sold in Southern Nevada.

According to GLVAR, the total number of local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in June was 3,945. That's down from 4,134 in May and down from 4,540 total sales in June 2011.

Compared to May, single-family home sales during June decreased by 5.8 percent, while sales of condos and townhomes increased by 1.4 percent. Compared to one year ago, home sales were down 11.4 percent, while condo and townhome sales were down 19.8 percent.

As for prices, GLVAR reported the median price of single-family homes sold in June was $131,785, up 3.0 percent from $128,000 in May and up 5.9 percent from one year ago. This was the fifth straight month that median home prices increased. The last time that local home prices went up for that many consecutive months was July of 2004, according to GLVAR records.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in June was $69,000, up 11.3 percent from $62,000 in May and up 15.2 percent from one year ago.

The total number of homes listed for sale on GLVAR's Multiple Listing Service again decreased from May to June, with a total of 16,930 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of the month. That's down 2.4 percent from 17,346 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of May and down 25.4 percent from one year ago.

GLVAR reported a total of 3,713 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of June. That's down 0.4 percent from 3,728 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of May, and down 29.2 percent from one year ago.

The number of available homes listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer also dropped compared to the previous month and year. By the end of June, GLVAR reported 3,690 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That's down 2.9 percent from 3,800 such homes listed in May and down 67.5 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,083 properties listed without offers in June represented a 2.4 percent increase from 1,058 such properties listed without offers in May and a decrease of 59.2 percent from one year ago.

In June, GLVAR reported that 54.0 percent of all existing homes sold in Southern Nevada were purchased with cash. That's down slightly from 54.4 percent in May.

Meanwhile, 34.2 percent of all existing local homes sold during June were short sales, which occur when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage.

Bank-owned homes accounted for 27.8 percent of all existing home sales in June, down from 32.6 percent in May.

"Since banks have been encouraging short sales and doing fewer foreclosures, short sales have finally surpassed (the sale of) foreclosures," Kelley said. "And since short sales are a better alternative than a foreclosure for homeowners and for our neighborhoods, we think this is a good thing."

GLVAR reported that the median price of bank-owned single-family homes sold in June was $118,000, up 5.3 percent from May. The median price of single-family homes sold as part of a short sale in June was $117,250, down 1.2 percent from May.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of June 2012. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or for sale by owners. Other highlights include:

• The monthly value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during June decreased by 2.3 percent for homes to more than $533 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all sales in June was more than $74 million, up 14.1 percent from May. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in June were down 0.8 percent for homes, but up 8.2 percent for condos and townhomes.

• In June, 65.4 percent of all homes and 71.6 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to May, when 64.3 percent of all homes and 69.7 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days