Las Vegas Market Stays Hot

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The number of homes available for sale in Las Vegas jumped in June as the median home price continued to rise, according to the latest numbers from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.  

The median price of an existing home was $175,000 in June, a 2.9 percent monthly increase and 32.8 percent higher than a year ago.

"I think local home prices could continue to appreciate in the coming months, but I think we're going to see the rate of appreciation slow down at some point," GLVAR president Dave Tina said in a release. "It was also good to see a nice bump in the number of homes available for sale. We still need more homes on the market to meet the strong demand."
 
The number of single-family homes available without any pending or contingent offer was 3,828 in June, increasing 16.1 percent from the previous month. 
 
Median home prices in Southern Nevada have been quickly increasing, posting higher than year-ago levels, but far from the peak of $315,000 in June 2006, GLVAR said. 

The median price for condominiums and townhouses was $86,000 in June, a 3.4 percent decrease from the previous month but 24.6 percent higher than last year. 

With fewer foreclosures and short sales, "traditional" sellers accounted for a recent high of 60 percent of all local home sales, GLVAR reports. 
 
However, short sales are still expected to play an important part in the market mostly because the federal Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is scheduled to expire on December 31. 

The total number of existing homes sold in June was 3,642, down from 3,884 in May, with 55.3 percent purchased with cash. In June, 76.6 percent of all homes sold within 60 days.