Las Vegas home prices rising fast, but still trail US average

Southern Nevada home prices shot higher in May but still trailed the national average, underscoring the housing frenzy around the country.

Home prices in the Las Vegas area were up 15.5 percent year-over-year in May, compared with a gain of 16.6 percent nationwide, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller index released Tuesday by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

Phoenix led the 20 markets in the report with a 25.9 percent year-over-year price jump.

U.S. home prices rose at a record pace for the second consecutive month in May, Craig Lazzara, global head of index investment strategy at S&P Dow Jones, said in a news release.

“A month ago, I described April’s performance as ‘truly extraordinary,’ and this month I find myself running out of superlatives,” he said.

Las Vegas’ housing market has seen record-high prices and rapid sales for months, thanks largely to cheap borrowing costs that have let buyers stretch their budgets. House hunters have flooded properties with offers and routinely paid over the asking price, and homebuilders have regularly raised prices, put buyers on waiting lists and taken bids for lots, multiple sources have said.

In some ways, however, Southern Nevada’s fast-moving market has trailed other cities this year, as seen in Tuesday’s report and in others comparing metro areas.

For instance, the share of homes in Las Vegas that found buyers within a week of getting listed (about 51 percent in April) was in the middle of the pack, and locally, the share of homes that sold over the asking price (15 percent in February) was one of the smallest in the nation.

Southern Nevada’s market overall remains heated, as houses are selling fast and buyers are paying record-high prices.

Still, resale totals dropped for two months during the normally busy spring buying season before rebounding in June, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, and builders’ sales activity slid for the third consecutive month in June, Home Builders Research reported.

Simply Vegas agent Cassidy Cotten said Tuesday that he’s still fielding multiple offers on listings but not as many as he previously received. He might get four to five now instead of 13, he indicated.

He’s seen the market “kind of pull back,” adding it’s “not as extreme as it was a few months ago.”

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