Local home prices keep climbing while sales start to slide

A recent Las Vegas Realtors report shows local home prices continuing to climb while sales are starting to decline.

LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during April was $475,000. That breaks the record set the previous month. The median home price is up 26.7 percent from $375,000 one year ago. The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in April increased to $275,000. That also breaks the all-time record set the previous month and is up 35.8 percent from $202,450 in April 2021.

LVR President Brandon Roberts, a longtime local Realtor, said existing local home prices have now quadrupled since hitting their post-recession bottom in January of 2012, when the median single-family home price in Southern Nevada was $118,000.

“With mortgage interest rates going up in recent months and so few homes available for sale, it’s no wonder we’re selling fewer homes,” Roberts said. “Although local home prices are still increasing, we expect the rate of appreciation to start slowing down at some point as these trends continue. At least we had more homes available for sale than we had the previous month and the previous year.”

By the end of April, LVR reported 2,441 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 33.6 percent from the same time last year. However, the 508 condos and townhomes listed without offers in April represent a 2.1 percent decrease from one year earlier.

LVR reported a total of 3,777 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in April. Compared to one year earlier, sales were down 14.9 percent for homes and down 24.2 percent for condos and townhomes.

Even with the increased inventory, April’s sales pace equates to less than a one-month supply of properties available for sale. Roberts said the local housing supply has rarely, if ever, been this low.

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, townhomes 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 topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales. By comparison, LVR reported 41,155 total sales during 2020.

During April, LVR found that 32 percent of all local property sales were purchased with cash. That’s up from 27.9 percent one year ago. While that percentage has been increasing this year, it’s still 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 just 0.5 percent of all existing local property sales in April. That compares to 0.9 percent of all sales one year ago, 1.5 percent two years ago, 3 percent three years ago, 2.5 percent four years ago and 8.4 percent five years ago.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of April 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 April was nearly $1.8 billion for homes and nearly $231 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in April were up 5.1 percent for homes and up 1.9 percent for condos and townhomes.

Homes have been selling faster this year than previous years. In April, 94 percent of all existing local homes and 96.1 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 89.2 percent of all existing local homes and 86.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes 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.