Bank-owned Homes Now Account for 42% of all Existing Home Sales in Las Vegas

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Today the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported relatively steady home sales with a slight dip in local Las Vegas home prices.

GLVAR President Rick Shelton, a longtime local Realotr, has been saying for months that GLVAR's statistics and feedback from its members suggest the local housing market is "bouncing along the bottom."

Report highlights include:

• The value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during September increased by 0.1 percent for homes, to more than $476 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all sales was more than $77 million in September, up 5.9 percent from more than $73 million in August. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in September were down 15.5 percent for homes and up 7.7 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Through September, 66.6 percent of all homes and 66.6 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to August, when 68.1 percent of all single-family homes and 66.3 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.

"We don't like to make predictions about the future of the market. All we can say with certainty is where we're at today and where we've been," Shelton said. "But if the rest of 2010 continues to follow these recent trends, as many housing experts suggest, I think we'll look back on this period and say we are now at or near the proverbial bottom of the housing market here in Southern Nevada."

Shelton added that "outside forces," such as government incentives, tax credits and other forms of intervention, could still have an impact on the housing market. For instance, he said local Realtors, buyers and sellers are still feeling the effects of the federal tax credit for homebuyers that fueled home sales last summer and through its expiration on April 30. He said the expiration of the tax credit has slowed sales in recent months.

The median single-family home price in Southern Nevada during September was $135,000, down 3.6 percent from $140,000 in August and down 2.2 percent from September of 2009. The median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in September was $65,000, down 3.0 percent from $67,000 in August and down 1.1 percent from one year ago.

According to GLVAR, the percentage of homes being sold as a result of short sales and foreclosures remained fairly steady last month. In September, 30 percent of all existing homes sold in Southern Nevada were short sales, matching the percentage in August and falling just shy of the peak mark of 34 percent in June.

Meanwhile, bank-owned homes accounted for 42 percent of all existing local home sales in September. That's down from 43 percent in August and from a peak of 53 percent in February.

The total number of local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in September was 3,603. That's down slightly from 3,638 in August and from 4,217 one year ago.

Shelton said the percentage of local homes purchased with cash continues to approach half of all home sales, accounting for 45.4 percent of all sales in September, compared to 45.9 percent in August.

He said this may be the highest percentage of cash buyers in any metropolitan area in the country and is further proof that investors continue to bet with their own money that local home prices will eventually rise from today's "bargain prices."

Shelton said buyers are also benefiting from increases in the total number of homes listed for sale and the number of homes listed without any sort of pending offer. September marked the fifth straight month that both inventory categories showed an increased number of homes listed for sale.

By the end of September, GLVAR reported 11,887 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer and another 3,151 such condos and townhomes. For single-family homes, that's an increase of 4.9 percent from the inventory total in August and an increase of 50.3 percent from September 2009. For condos and townhomes, the inventory without offers in September increased by 4.1 percent from last month and by 53.0 percent from last year.

As for the larger, or gross, number of listings on GLVAR's Multiple Listing Service, GLVAR reported a total of 22,719 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of September. That's up 0.4 percent from August and up 9.2 percent from one year ago. GLVAR reported 5,945 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of September. That's down 1.0 percent from August and up 14.8 percent from one year ago.

This month's GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of September 2010.

 

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