Las Vegas Residential Prices Rising, Post NFL Raiders Relocation Announcement

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According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, the recent trend of rising home prices and sales in Southern Nevada continued through March 2017.
 
GLVAR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold during March increased to $242,000. That was up 0.8 percent from February and up 10.0 percent from March 2016. Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in March was $122,950, up 4.2 percent from February and up 4.2 percent from March 2016.
 
GLVAR President David J. Tina pointed out that the median home price in Southern Nevada has nearly doubled from $123,000 five years ago and has continued to increase this year despite potential headwinds like a shrinking local housing supply and rising mortgage interest rates.
 
"We continue to see a strong demand for housing heading into what is traditionally our best time of year for home sales. Combined with a tight supply, I think our home prices and home sales may continue to get a boost from the positive economic news we've been enjoying lately, including last week's announcement that the Raiders are moving to Las Vegas," Tina said. "While it's hard to quantify, I think news that Las Vegas will soon be an NFL city with a state-of-the-art sports stadium is one more thing that solidifies our position as a world-class city and something that pushes some buyers over the threshold and encourages them to buy property here now."
 
Like prices, local home sales have also been increasing this year. The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in March was 3,903, up from 3,488 in March 2016. Compared to one year ago, sales were up 14.8 percent for homes and up 0.4 percent for condos and townhomes.
 
According to GLVAR, 2017 is ahead of the sales pace in 2016, when 41,720 total properties were sold in Southern Nevada. That was more than the 38,577 properties sold during 2015. It was also more than in 2014, but fewer than each year from 2009 through 2013.
 
At the current sales pace, Tina said Southern Nevada has less than a three-month supply of homes available for sale. A six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market.
 
By the end of March, GLVAR reported 5,488 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 23.9 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 715 properties listed without offers in March represented a 69.0 percent drop from one year ago.
 
For several years, GLVAR has been reporting fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. That trend continued in March, when 4.4 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 5.9 percent of all sales in March 2016. Another 5.4 percent of all March sales were bank-owned, down from 7.1 percent one year ago.
 
GLVAR said 29.5 percent of all local properties sold in March were purchased with cash, compared to 27.7 percent in March 2016. That's well short of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still more active in Southern Nevada than in most markets, but that their influence has generally been declining.
 
These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of March 2017. 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 highlights include:
 

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during March was more than $907 million for homes and more than $94 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in March were up 23.7 percent for homes, but down 11.2 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In March, 75.9 percent of all existing local homes and 81.2 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 65.5 percent of all homes and 64.9 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.