Las Vegas Home Prices Up 4 Percent Annually in November

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors is reporting this week that home prices in Southern Nevada stayed the same from October 2019 to November 2019, but are still up from one year ago.

GLVAR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during November was $307,000. That's the same median price as October, but up 4.1% from $295,000 in November of 2018.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in November was $175,000. That was up 6.1% from $164,900 in November of 2018.

"The overall trends in our housing market have basically been the same all year," said 2019 GLVAR President Janet Carpenter. "Home prices have been rising gradually compared to last year and the past several years. Sales have been running slightly behind last year's pace. Homes are staying on the market a little longer. And our local housing supply is still very tight and only about half of what we'd like it to be."

As for 2020, Carpenter expects to see more of the same, citing Southern Nevada's strong job, population and economic growth that continue to drive demand for housing and reports from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and others suggesting modest increases in home prices next year. She expressed skepticism about a report released this week by Realtor.com that predicted existing home prices in Southern Nevada could fall by about 1% in 2020.

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 lately, Carpenter said fewer homes have been selling this year compared to the previous few years. 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 November was 2,946. Compared to one year ago, November sales were up 5.0% for homes, but down 4.6% for condos and townhomes.

By the end of November, GLVAR reported 6,531 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 6.7% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,711 properties listed without offers in November represented a 6.6% increase from one year ago.

While the local housing supply had been increasing for much of 2019, 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 23.7% of all local properties sold in November were purchased with cash. That's down from 26.1% 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 2.0% of all existing local property sales in November. That compares to 2.6% of all sales one year ago and just under 5% two years ago.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of November 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 November was nearly $880 million for homes and more than $101 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in November were up 12.4% for homes and up 2.5% for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos are selling at a slower pace than last year at this time. In November, 73.3% of all existing local homes and 74.8% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 82.4 percent of all existing local homes and 85.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.