Greater Las Vegas Home Prices Keep Setting Records, Despite COVID

Las Vegas Realtors are reporting this week that Southern Nevada home prices are continuing their record run despite the coronavirus pandemic and an increasingly tight housing supply.

LVR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during September was $337,250. That's up 8.8% from $310,000 during the same month last year and marks a new all-time record.

Local condos and townhomes sold for a median price of $195,500 in September. That's up 14.3% from $171,000 in September of 2019.

"Local home prices keep setting records, which is really remarkable when you think about all the challenges we're facing," said 2020 LVR President Tom Blanchard. "The pause during the beginning of the pandemic seems to have pushed the traditional summer sales season into the fall. We'll see if we can sustain this momentum heading into next year. We're also dealing with a housing shortage, with no signs of that changing anytime soon."

With Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak's order allowing open houses to resume starting Oct. 1, Blanchard sees the potential for even more activity and "more properties coming onto the market as investors start bringing their tenant-occupied properties back on line - since we can now show those."

LVR reported a total of 3,996 existing local homes, condos and townhomes were sold during September. Compared to the same time last year, September sales were up 18.9% for homes and up 6.8% for condos and townhomes.

Blanchard said the local housing market continues to benefit from strong demand and mortgage interest rates that are hovering around all-time lows. It also helps that the local housing market was on solid footing when Nevada declared a state of emergency in March. At the time, local home sales were running ahead of last year's pace and existing local home prices had just surpassed their longstanding record of $315,000 set back in June of 2006.

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 steadily since then.

Blanchard said the number of local homes available for sale remains well below the six-month supply considered to be a balanced market. In fact, he said the sales pace in September equates to less than a two-month supply of homes available for sale, creating a local housing shortage.

By the end of September, LVR reported 4,798 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 34.6% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,525 properties listed without offers in September represent a 16.7% drop from one year ago.

LVR reported that 17.9% of all local properties sold in September were purchased with cash. That compares to 23.0% one year ago. That's well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, suggesting 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 remains near historically low levels. The association reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 1.0% of all existing local property sales in September. That compares to 2.0% of all sales one year ago, 2.5% two years ago and 5.2% three years ago.

Blanchard expects distressed sales to remain low as long as state and federal moratoriums remain in place to prevent most evictions and certain foreclosures.

Other Greater Las Vegas highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during September was more than $1.3 billion for homes and nearly $153 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in September were up 33.8% for homes and up 22.0% for condos and townhomes.

• In September, 82.6% of all existing local homes and 79.9% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 75.5% of all existing local homes and 72.2% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.