Las Vegas Home Prices Up a Staggering 13 Percent Annually in September

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According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, local home prices continued to rise rapidly, while home sales stabilized in September 2017.
 
GLVAR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold during September through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) was $265,000, up 13.5 percent from September 2016. The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in September was $140,000, up 21.7 percent from the same time last year.
 
GLVAR President David J. Tina, said home prices have been appreciating at a fairly steady rate of about 10 percent per year for the past few years.
 
"Heading into the fall, home prices are continuing to be up monthly by double digits," Tina said. "We see several reasons for this. There's a strong demand for housing here in Southern Nevada. Our economy and job market have been improving. Mortgage rates are relatively low. And our housing supply continues to be as tight as it has been in recent memory. All these things drive up home prices."
 
As for headwinds in the housing market, Tina said the growing demand and shrinking supply of homes available for sale continues to present challenges for buyers, especially those seeking entry-level homes and condos.
 
At the current sales pace, he said Southern Nevada still has less than a two-month supply of existing homes available for sale. A six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market.
 
By the end of September, GLVAR reported 4,969 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 33.1 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 680 properties listed without offers in September represented a 41.4 percent drop from one year ago.
 
The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during September was 3,571, up from 3,541 in September 2016. Compared to one year ago, sales were down 0.4 percent for homes, but up 7.0 percent for condos and townhomes.
 
According to GLVAR, total sales so far in 2017 continue to outpace 2016, when 41,720 total properties were sold in Southern Nevada. At this rate, GLVAR statistics show that 2017 is on pace to be the best year for local home sales since at least 2012.
 
GLVAR reported that 25.7 percent of all local properties sold in September were purchased with cash, similar to last month and up only slightly from 25.6 percent in September of last year. That's less than half of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are playing a smaller role in the local housing market.
 
In recent years, GLVAR has been reporting fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. That trend continued in September, when 2.9 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 down from 4.6 percent of all sales in September 2016. Another 2.3 percent of all September sales were bank-owned, down from 6.0 percent one year ago.
 
These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of September 2017 and proceed this past week's horrific Las Vegas gun shooting event . 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 September was nearly $901 million for homes and nearly $103 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in September were up 15.2 percent for homes and up 34.4 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In September, 82.9 percent of all existing local homes and 87.6 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 76.1 percent of all existing local homes and 77.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.