Las Vegas Home Prices Dip in October

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According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) latest housing report for October 2014, the median price of homes sold last month in Southern Nevada dipped slightly as fewer homes are selling each month.
 
GLVAR reported the median price of single-family homes sold through its Multiple Listing Service during October was $199,900. That's down 1.3 percent from $202,500 in September 2014, but still up 8.1 percent from one year ago. Meanwhile, the median price of condominiums and townhomes sold in October was $99,000, down 5.0 percent from $104,250 in September and down 1.0 percent from one year ago.
 
"It's not that surprising to see home prices start to dip as the weather cools off and we head into the holidays," said GLVAR President Heidi Kasama. "Local home prices have been stabilizing for months, and homes are taking longer to sell. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see this trend of slower sales and prices continue for the rest of 2014 and through the winter months."

 
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Kasama pointed out that GLVAR's median local home price is still well below the June 2006 peak of $315,000. Single-family home prices bottomed out at a median of $118,000 in January 2012 before increasing by 24 percent per year in 2012 and 2013.
 
According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in October was 2,861, down from 2,982 in September and down from 3,192 one year ago. At the current pace, Kasama said Southern Nevada has about a four-month supply of available properties. GLVAR considers a six-month supply to be a balanced market.
 
For nearly two years, GLVAR has reported fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. That trend generally continued in October, when GLVAR reported that 10.6 percent of all local sales were short sales - which occur when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage. That's up from 10.4 percent in September.  Another 8.9 percent of all October sales were bank-owned properties, up from 8.8 percent in September and matching the percentage in August.
 
Throughout 2014, Kasama has said short sales have been declining due in part to uncertainty about whether Congress will vote to extend the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 that expired Dec. 31, 2013. If Congress doesn't extend this law and make it retroactive to Jan. 1, it can create a significant tax hit for anyone who completed a short sale in 2014. She said Realtors are still pushing Congress to extend this act for at least another year. Unless Congress extends this act in the coming months, any amount of money a bank writes off in agreeing to sell a home as part of a short sale starting in 2014 may become taxable when sellers file their income taxes.
 
The total number of single-family homes listed for sale on GLVAR's Multiple Listing Service in October was 14,430, up 4.1 percent from 13,857 in September, but down 3.9 percent from one year ago. GLVAR tracked a total of 3,653 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS in October, up 3.7 percent from September, but down 3.3 percent from October 2013.
 
By the end of October, GLVAR reported 8,880 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That's up 8.3 percent from 8,196 such homes listed in September and up 25.6 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 2,548 properties listed without offers in October represented a 5.5 percent increase from 2,415 such properties listed in September and a 13.4 percent increase from one year ago.
 
GLVAR said 35.1 percent all local properties sold in October were purchased with cash. That's up from 34.3 percent in September, but still well short of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, suggesting that fewer investors have been buying homes in Southern Nevada. Kasama noted the percentage of cash buyers remains highest among local condo and townhome buyers, about two out of three of whom have been paying in cash in recent months.
 
The median price of bank-owned homes sold in October was $161,615, down from $169,222 in September. The median price of homes sold as part of a short sale in October was $165,000, the same as during September.
 
Other GLVAR report highlights include:
 

• The monthly value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during October increased by 1.0 percent for homes to more than $575 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all October sales was nearly $79 million, down 10.0 percent from September. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in October were down 5.6 percent for homes and 5.7 percent for condos and townhomes.

• In October, 64.6 percent of all existing local homes and 55.3 percent of all existing condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to September, when 66.4 percent of all existing local homes and 60.5 percent of all existing condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.