Greater Las Vegas Home Prices Hold Steady During Coronavirus

Las Vegas Realtors are reporting this week that local home prices held their ground fairly well amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn, though fewer homes are selling.

LVR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during May 2020 was $315,000. That was down from an all-time record price of $319,000 in March, but still up 5.0% from a median price of $300,000 in May of 2019.

The association reported that the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in May was $185,000. That's up 3.1% from May of 2019.

LVR reported that a total of 2,075 existing local homes, condos and townhomes were sold during May - the second full month since Nevadans were ordered on March 17 to "stay home for Nevada." Compared to the same time last year, May sales were down 48.1% for homes and down 51.3% for condos and townhomes. Sales were also down from the previous month.

"This crisis has obviously had a big impact on home sales," said 2020 LVR President Tom Blanchard. "At the same time, it's encouraging to see home values remaining steady, even with sales activity dropping. The bright spot is the increased activity of homes being placed under contract, which has seen a steady and significant increase since mid-April, which appears to have been the bottom of this housing dip."

"These are undoubtedly challenging times," he added. "But I'm optimistic we can get through this faster and in better shape than some people have been predicting. It helps that our local housing market had such a strong foundation heading into this crisis."

Blanchard pointed out how well the local housing market was performing just three months ago, when home sales were running ahead of last year's pace and existing local home prices finally broke their all-time record of $315,000 set back in June of 2006. LVR statistics showed that March set a new high-water mark with a median single-family home price of $319,000.

According to LVR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012 before rebounding since then.

Even with fewer homes selling last month, Blanchard said the number of homes available for sale continues to shrink and remains below the six-month supply considered to be a balanced market. The sales pace in May equates to less than a four-month supply of homes available for sale.

By the end of May, LVR reported 5,799 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 26.2% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,768 properties listed without offers in May represented a 5.8% drop from one year ago.

LVR reported that 14.5% of all local properties sold in May were purchased with cash. That compares to 20.4% one year ago. That's well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, indicating that cash buyers and investors have been less active in the local housing market.

Despite the coronavirus crisis, the number of so-called distressed sales in May remained near historically low levels. The association reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.5% of all existing local property sales in May. That compares to 2.0% of all sales one year ago, 2.6% two years ago, and 6.8% three years ago.

With a 90-day moratorium on evictions and foreclosures ordered March 29 by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, Blanchard expects distressed sales to remain low in the coming months.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of May 2020. LVR 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 May was nearly $637 million for homes and more than $73 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in May were down 45.8% for homes and down 49.1% for condos and townhomes.

• In May, 84.7% of all existing local homes and 79.6% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 75.0% of all existing local homes and 76.9% of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.