Las Vegas Residential Sales Dip 11.6 Percent Annually in November

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors are reporting this week that Southern Nevada home prices leveled off heading into the holidays, with more homes on the market and fewer properties changing hands.

GLVAR also reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during November 2018 was $295,000, just short of October's median price of $295,025, but still up 13.0 percent from $261,150 in November of 2017.

The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in November was $164,900. That's down 5.2 percent from October, but up 16.5 percent from the same time last year.

"The housing market has been softening nationwide," said 2018 GLVAR President Chris Bishop. "Even though our local home prices have been appreciating at the fastest rate in the country through much of this year, prices have been fairly flat for the past few months. I wouldn't be surprised to see that trend continue as we head into the holidays and what is traditionally the slowest time of year for home sales."

Local home prices have generally been rising since 2012, though they still have not reached their all-time peak. According to GLVAR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada peaked at $315,000 in June of 2006. Local home prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012.

As for the number of local homes available for sale, Bishop said it's still below what would be considered a balanced market but continued its recent rise to what is now a three-month housing supply. By the end of November, GLVAR reported 7,003 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's up 54.3 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,605 properties listed without offers in November represented a 118.4 percent jump from one year ago.

The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during November was 2,857. Compared to one year ago, November sales were down 11.6 percent for homes and down 7.1 percent for condos and townhomes.

GLVAR reported that 26.1 percent of all local properties sold in November were purchased with cash. That compares to 28.5 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 in the local housing market, but have been playing a much smaller role than they were during and immediately after the Great Recession.

The number of so-called distressed sales continues to drop each year. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 2.6 percent of all existing local property sales in November, down from just under 5 percent of all sales one year ago and 10.5 percent two years ago.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of November 2018. GLVAR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners.

Other Las Vegas market highlights include

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during November was nearly $783 million for homes and nearly $99 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in November were down 3.3 percent for homes, but up 3.2 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos continue to sell relatively quickly, though at pace more in line with last year at this time. In November, 82.4 percent of all existing local homes and 85.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 82.3 percent of all existing local homes and 88.5 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.