Home Prices Still Hot in Greater Las Vegas, Yet Sales Cooling

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According to a new report released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, local Las Vegas home prices rose again in February 2018, while sales slowed down amid a shrinking housing supply.

GLVAR reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during February was $275,000. That's up 3.8 percent from January and up 14.6 percent from February of 2017. The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in February was $150,000, up 27.1 percent from the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during February fell to 2,704. Compared to one year ago, February sales were down 5.4 percent for homes, but up 1.8 percent for condos and townhomes.

"Our shrinking housing supply may finally be catching up to us and slowing down our home sales," said 2018 GLVAR President Chris Bishop. "Sales have continued to go up over the last few years, even as our inventory has been going down. But with fewer homes on the market each month, it seems like it was only a matter of time before it started to affect sales."

He said Southern Nevada still has less than a two-month supply of existing homes available for sale when a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.

By the end of February, GLVAR reported 3,653 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 34.3 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 679 properties listed without offers in February represented a 10.4 percent drop from one year ago. The inventory of condos and townhomes listed for sale is as low as it has been since 2004, Bishop added.

February's sales dip is a departure from the recent trend in home sales, which have been increasing over the past few years. In fact, GLVAR reported that the 46,598 existing local properties sold during 2017 made it the third best sales year on record and the best year for existing local home sales since 2011.

GLVAR reported that 32.4 percent of all local properties sold in February were purchased with cash, compared to 31.4 percent one year ago. That's well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active, but are playing a much smaller role in the local housing market than they were five years ago.

At the same time, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 3.8 percent of all existing local home sales in February, compared to 10.6 percent of all sales one year ago.

Other Las Vegas market highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during February was more than $714 million for homes and nearly $92 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in February were up 15.0 percent for homes and up 24.8 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In February, 79.8 percent of all existing local homes and 86.4 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 69.6 percent of all existing local homes and 76.5 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.