Las Vegas home price ranking drops from 2nd to 8th in August

After two years with some of the fastest-growing home prices in the nation, Las Vegas tumbled closer to the middle of the pack in August amid its ongoing slowdown.

Southern Nevada home prices were up 3.3 percent year-over-year in August, compared with 3.2 percent nationally, according to S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Phoenix, with a 6.3 percent gain, led the 20 markets in the report.

Las Vegas’ price growth was eighth, following two months with the second-fastest rate on Case-Shiller’s list, a yearlong reign at the top and, before that, 10 months in the No. 2 slot.

The drop in rankings underscores Las Vegas’ cooler market this year, after a heated stretch sparked affordability concerns. Price growth has slowed, builders are selling fewer houses, and the once-depleted tally of available listings has shot back up.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes — the bulk of the market — was $310,000 in September, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

By comparison, prices in September 2018 were up 13.2 percent year-over-year, the trade group previously reported.

GLVAR President Janet Carpenter, of Signature Real Estate Group, said in a statement earlier this month that when prices rose by 3 percent to 5 percent annually in past decades, people thought that was a “pretty good” increase.

“With demand staying strong and our local housing supply remaining tight, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this trend continue into the foreseeable future,” she said.

Nationally, price growth “continues to slow and come back in line with historic norms,” Matthew Speakman, economist with listing site Zillow, said in a statement Tuesday.

He said the slowdown should be seen as a “stabilization,” adding demand remains strong, buyers are optimistic about the state of the market, and a “modest reacceleration” of home values “may be coming soon.”

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.