Greater Las Vegas Home Prices Dip in October, First Time in 8 Years

According to a new report by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, home prices in Southern Nevada stalled to start fall, with fewer homes selling so far this year compared to last year.

GLVAR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during October was $307,000. That's down 1.0% from September but up 4.1% from $295,025 in October of 2018. Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in October was $171,250. That was down 1.6% from $174,000 in October of 2018.

"Local home prices are as stable as they've been in years and appreciating at a much more gradual pace, more like what was considered a normal and healthy rate of appreciation for many years," said 2019 GLVAR President Janet Carpenter. "We realize that many prospective buyers still face challenges finding homes that are both available and affordable for them. But at least buyers are benefiting from more stable prices, more homes on the market than we had at this time last year and historically low mortgage interest rates."

Before slowing down this year, local home prices had been soaring since early 2012, posting double-digit gains from year to year while climbing back toward 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 before prices began falling during the recession. Local home prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012.

Just as prices have been rising more gradually, Carpenter said fewer homes have been selling this year compared to the previous few years. According to GLVAR, a total of 36,665 existing local properties were sold in Southern Nevada from Jan. 1, 2019 through Oct. 31, 2019. That's down from 38,248 total properties sold during the same 10-month period in 2018. For all of 2018, GLVAR reported a total of 42,876 local property sales. That was down from 45,388 in all of 2017.

The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during October was 3,571. Compared to one year ago, October sales were up 7.9% for homes and up 3.5% for condos and townhomes.

As for inventory, by the end of October, GLVAR reported 7,210 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's up 4.2% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,808 properties listed without offers in October represented a 15.7% increase from one year ago.

While the local housing supply has increased over the past year, Carpenter said it's still well below the six-month supply that is considered to be a more balanced market. At the current sales pace, she said Southern Nevada has less than a three-month supply of homes available for sale.

GLVAR reported that 21.7% of all local properties sold in October were purchased with cash. That's down from 25.6% one year ago. That's also well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active in the local housing market, but are playing a much smaller role than they were during and just after the recession.

Along the same lines, the number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 2.4% of all existing local property sales in October. That compares to 3.0% of all sales one year ago and 5.2% two years ago.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of October 2019. 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 market highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during October was more than $1 billion for homes and more than $127 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in October were up 9.4% for homes and up 7.8% for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos are selling at a slower pace than last year at this time. In October, 74.4% of all existing local homes and 69.8% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 85.8% of all existing local homes and 87.2% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.