Las Vegas Home Sales Uptick in December, Prices Continue to Slide

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This week the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported that single-family home sales increased while prices decreased from November to December, capping a year that brought some welcome stability to the local Las Vegas housing market.

GLVAR President Paul Bell said GLVAR's latest December statistics, like 2010, represent a mixed bag.

"It was good to see local home sales increase, as they did in the previous month," Bell said. "At the same time, we know most homeowners are disappointed to hear that prices went down. The median price of an existing home here is now down about 3 percent from one year ago. At least this slight decrease is better than the 33 percent and 22 percent declines we saw in 2008 and 2009. I agree with my predecessor, Rick Shelton, who has been saying that we've at least stopped the bleeding and are now bouncing along the bottom of the market."

Bell noted that local home sales and prices typically decline from November to December. According to GLVAR, the median single-family home price during December was $132,000. That's down 2.1 percent from $134,900 in November and down 2.9 percent from one year ago.

The median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in December was $62,000, down 4.5 percent from $64,900 in November and down 5.1 percent from one year ago.

In December, 25.3 percent of all existing homes sold in Southern Nevada were short sales, which occur when a bank agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage. That's down from 26 percent in November and from a peak of 34 percent in June 2010.

Meanwhile, bank-owned homes accounted for 49.8 percent of all existing local home sales in December, up from 44 percent in November, but down from a 2010 peak of 53 percent in February.

The total number of local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in December was 4,007. That's up from 3,510 total sales in November.

The percentage of local homes purchased with cash continues to rise, accounting for 48.2 percent of all local home sales in December, up from 47.8 percent in November. Bell said this cash buyer trend "was one of the big stories of 2010" and is likely unmatched anywhere in the nation. He added this percentage may continue to approach half of all local home sales in 2011.

GLVAR reported that the total number of homes listed for sale on its Multiple Listing Service declined from November to December after increasing in previous months, with a total of 21,656 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of December. That's down 4.3 percent from 22,624 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of November. That's still up 9.9 percent from one year ago.

GLVAR reported a total of 5,550 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of December. That's down 4.9 percent from 5,839 the previous month, but up 21.3 percent from the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of available properties listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer declined from last month, but was still up substantially from one year ago. By the end of December, GLVAR reported 12,417 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That's down 1.3 percent from November, but up 47.7 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 2,731properties listed without offers in December represented a decrease of 14.7 percent from last month but an increase of 50.1 percent from last year.

This month's GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of December 2010. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or for sale by owners.

Other highlights reported by GLVAR include:

• The total number of existing homes, condos and townhomes sold in 2010 was 43,877. That makes 2010 the third best sales year on record, trailing the 46,879 sold in 2009 and 71,963 homes sold during the boom year of 2004.

• The value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during December increased 13.0 percent for homes, to more than $510 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all sales in December was nearly $73 million, up 26.3 percent from November. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in December were down 8.7 percent for homes, but up 22.0 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Through December, 59.3 percent of all homes and 63.7 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to November, when 60.3 percent of all homes and 59.5 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.

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