Home listings in Southern Nevada have skyrocketed this year

Home listings in Southern Nevada shot up in January, but sales dropped to start 2024 on a low note for residential real estate.

While listings are up from December, supply remains low and home prices elevated, as data from Las Vegas Realtors show the median price of a single-family home sold in Southern Nevada during January was $445,000, a 1 percent drop from the previous month.

New listings were up 62 percent month over month, but sales were down 2.6 percent in a clear sign that the market continues to wait for lower interest rates and a more affordable housing market.

LVR President Merri Perry said a “persistently” tight housing supply continues to put a damper on home sales while propping up home prices. Perry also pointed to mortgage rates, which remain above 7 percent for a 30-year fixed term.

Perry said there was a bit of a bright spot in the latter half of 2023 that she hopes could play out again in 2024, as mortgage rates came down from an October high of 8 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate, down to 6.6 percent at the end of the year and sales figures stopped dropping in Southern Nevada in response.

“Over the past few months, we’ve seen benefits from lower interest rates and relatively stable home prices here in Southern Nevada,” said Perry. “Now, if we could just get more homes on the market, we’d really be in good shape.”

However, mortgage rates have since gone back up, as they are now back over 7 percent, and Perry said the industry is hoping for relief in terms of interest rates this year to help sales.

Southern Nevada home prices have dropped from an all-time high of $482,000 for a single-family home set in May 2022, and the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said it is important to take the current state of the U.S. housing market into the context of the past few years.

“Let’s recall that before the COVID-induced economic lockdown, the Fed funds rate was near 2 percent, and the 30-year fixed mortgage rates were at nearly 4 percent,” he said. “We will not return to this level this year or next year. The budget deficit remains high, and the various inflation metrics remain above the comfort level. That means the mortgage rates will likely be in the 6 to 7 percent range for most of the year. This current rate is lower compared to the high of 8 percent a few months ago, which is helping to improve housing affordability.”

Southern Nevada had its worst year for home sales in 2023 since the Great Recession flatlined the economy in 2008-09. There were a total of 29,069 sales of homes, condos and townhomes last year in Southern Nevada, which was down from 2022 (35,584). That followed a record-breaking year for real estate sales in 2021 when 50,010 sales took place in Southern Nevada.

That was the first time ever that Southern Nevada real estate sales were above 50,000 for a year, topping the previous record that was set in 2011 by close to 2,000 sales.

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.