‘Demand continues to outpace supply’: Valley home sale prices still rising

Home prices continue to rise in the Las Vegas Valley as demand for housing outpaces supply, according to May statistics from the Las Vegas Realtors, who pull from the Multiple Listing Service.

The median sale price for a single-family house in May was $473,000, a 7 percent increase from the same month last year, but prices are still below the all-time high of $482,000, which was set in May 2022.

At the end of May, 3,869 homes were listed on the Multiple Listing Service in the valley without an offer, a 6.1 percent increase from May 2023. Realtors said new listings jumped 19.9 percent in May compared with a year ago, which is an 8.7 increase from April of this year.

LVR President Merri Perry said in a statement that “although the demand for housing here in Southern Nevada continues to outpace our supply, increased sales and inventory are positive signs for consumers and for our members.”

$500K listing price

The median asking price for a new home on the market crossed the half-million-dollar mark again, hitting $500,000 in May of this year, a 5.3 percent increase from the same month last year. According to the LVR, during the month of May 2022, the median price of all single-family homes sold set a record at $482,000 and the the median list price that month was $525,000. The listing price for a single-family home was also above $500,000 in April and June of that year as well.

However on a national level, home prices may be starting to drop, according to new statistics from Redfin.

“Some listings are growing stale because high mortgage rates and housing costs are causing would-be buyers to back off,” the new Redfin report stated.

Home sale prices are dropping in four predominately hot housing markets: Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas, and Portland, Oregon, meaning the rest of the nation could potentially follow given listings are staying on the market longer across the country, Redfin said.

“Nationwide, prices rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier to an all-time high during the four weeks ending June 2,” said the report. “But there are early indicators that national price growth could soften soon: 6.4 percent of U.S. home sellers cut their asking price, on average, the highest share since November 2022. And the typical active listing has been on the market for 46 days, up 2.3 percent year over year – the biggest increase in nine months, suggesting home listings are growing stale faster than they were a year ago.”

Las Vegas and the rest of the country find itself squarely within a housing crisis, as the nation deals with a number of issues that are hitting locally. Mortgage rates remain above 7 percent, which has locked many would-be home sellers into the homes they purchased during the ultra-low interest rate period brought on by the pandemic. This has fuelled a pricing surge over the past year and a half, driving up demand and quelling supply at the same time.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.