Southern Nevada Home Sales Rise as Prices Stabilize in September

---

According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), the local Southern Nevada housing supply is shrinking as home sales increase and prices stabilize.

GLVAR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold during September through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) was $233,500. That was down slightly from $235,000 in August, but still up 6.1 percent from $220,000 one year ago.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condominiums and townhomes, including high-rise condos, sold in September was $115,000. That was unchanged from August, but down 3.4 percent from $119,000 one year ago.

"Our housing supply has been tight for a long time, especially for homes in lower price ranges. We have less than three-month supply of homes available for sale, when a six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market," said 2016 GLVAR President Scott Beaudry. "In fact, the number of condos and townhomes available for sale is now as low as it has been in the past four years. I'm concerned about the housing supply, but it's good to see more homes being sold at prices that have been appreciating gradually over the past year or so."

According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in September was 3,541, up from 3,285 total sales in September 2015. Compared to the same month one year ago, 7.6 percent more homes, and 8.9 percent more condos and townhomes sold in September.

So far in 2016, Beaudry said local home sales are outpacing 2015, when GLVAR reported 38,578 single-family home, condominium, townhome and high-rise condo sales. That was more than in 2014, but fewer sales than during each of the previous five years.

The total number of single-family homes listed for sale on GLVAR's Multiple Listing Service in September was 12,794, down 4.4 percent from one year ago. GLVAR tracked a total of 2,241 condos, high-rise condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS in September, down 34.8 percent from one year ago.

By the end of September, GLVAR reported 7,427 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That's down 8.7 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,161 properties listed without offers in September represented a 49.8 percent decrease from one year ago.

GLVAR continues to track fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. In September, 4.6 percent of all local sales were short sales - when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage. That's down from 6.8 percent of all sales one year ago. Another 6.0 percent of all September sales were bank-owned, down from 7.1 percent one year ago.

Though they continue to make up a smaller percentage of all local home sales, Beaudry said short sales could continue to be an attractive option for some homeowners this year since Congress voted in late December to again extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, as Realtor advocated. If Congress had not voted to again extend this tax break to help distressed homeowners, any amount of money a bank wrote off in agreeing to sell a home as part of a short sale would have been taxable when sellers file their federal income taxes.

GLVAR said 25.6 percent of all local properties sold in September were purchased with cash, compared to 26.8 percent one year ago. That cash buyer percentage has stabilized in recent months. It's still less than half of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, suggesting that cash buyers and investors remain more active in Southern Nevada than in most markets, but that their influence continues to wane.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of September 2016. 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 homes for sale by owners.
 
Other market highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during September was more than $782 million for homes and nearly $77 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in September were up 11.7 percent for homes, but down 6.7 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes sold faster this September, when 76.1 percent of all existing local homes and 77.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 68.4 percent of all existing local homes and 63.8 percent of all existing condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.