Las Vegas home prices slip for third straight month

A recent Las Vegas Realtors report shows local home prices declining for the third straight month, with fewer homes selling and more available for sale.

LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during August was $450,000. That’s down from the all-time record price of $482,000 in May and down 3.2 percent from July. The median home price is still up 11.1 percent from $405,000 one year ago.

Likewise, the median price of local condos and town homes sold in August decreased to $264,900. That’s down 2.5 percent from the previous month and down from the all-time record price of $285,000 in May. Condo and town home prices are still up 15.7 percent from $229,000 in August 2021.

LVR President Brandon Roberts, a longtime local Realtor, said existing local home prices are “slowly giving back some of the big gains we saw over the last few years.” Prices are still nearly four times higher than during their post-recession bottom in January of 2012, when the median single-family home price in Southern Nevada was $118,000. Since mortgage interest rates started rising in recent months, he said prices have been stabilizing, fewer homes have been selling, more homes are hitting the market and more sellers are lowering their asking prices.

“Even though home prices have leveled off lately, they’re still up substantially from last year. When you combine that with rising mortgage interest rates and inflation, it’s no surprise to see some potential buyers sitting on the sidelines for now,” Roberts said. “At least buyers have more homes to choose from, today. It has been about three years since we had this many homes available for sale here.”

By the end of August, LVR reported 7,997 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 145.6 percent from the same time last year. Likewise, the 1,812 condos and town homes listed without offers in August represent a 163.8 percent jump from one year earlier.

LVR reported a total of 2,613 existing local homes, condos and town homes sold in August. Compared to one year earlier, sales were down 37.6 percent for homes and down 31.2 percent for condos and town homes.

With more homes available and fewer selling, the sales pace in August equates to more than a three-month supply of properties available for sale — more than tripling the supply from one year ago.

So far this year, existing local home sales are down from the same time in 2021. According to LVR, 2021 was a record year for existing home sales in Southern Nevada, with 50,010 homes, condos, town homes and other residential properties selling. That was the first time the association reported more than 50,000 local properties changing hands in a year, and it topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales. By comparison, LVR reported 41,155 total sales during 2020.

During August, LVR found that 27.4 percent of all local property sales were purchased with cash. That’s down from one year ago and well below the March 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5 percent.

Aided by restrictions on evictions and foreclosures during the pandemic, the number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 0.2 percent of all existing local property sales in August. That compares to 0.3 percent one year ago, 1.2 percent of all sales two years ago, 2.1 percent of all sales three years ago, 2.5 percent four years ago and 6.1 percent five years ago.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of August 2022. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not account for all 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 August was nearly $1.1 billion for homes and more than $172 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in August were down 29.7 percent for homes and down 23.5 percent for condos and town homes.

■ In August, 92.6 percent of all existing local homes and 93.6 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 96.4 percent of all existing local homes and 95.8 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days.

Las Vegas Realtors (formerly known as GLVAR) was founded in 1947 and provides its more than 17,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of Realtors, LVR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. Each member receives the highest level of professional training and must abide by a strict code of ethics. For more information, visit LasVegasRealtor.com.