Las Vegas area home prices dip for second straight month

A report released Tuesday by Las Vegas Realtors shows local home prices dipping for the second straight month, with fewer homes selling and more available for sale.

LVR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during July was $465,000. That’s down from the all-time record price of $482,000 in May and down 3.1 percent from June. The median home price is still up 14.8 percent from $405,000 one year ago.

Likewise, the median price of local condos and town homes sold in July decreased to $271,800. That’s down 2.9 percent from the previous month and down from the all-time record price of $285,000 in May. Condo and town home prices are still up 21.2 percent from $224,250 in July 2021.

LVR President Brandon Roberts, a longtime local Realtor, said existing local home prices are still nearly four times higher than during their post-recession bottom in January of 2012, when the median single-family home price in Southern Nevada was $118,000.

But since mortgage interest rates started rising in recent months, he said prices have been stabilizing, fewer homes have been selling, more homes are hitting the market and more sellers are lowering their asking prices.

“We’re definitely seeing a shift in the housing market,” Roberts said. “We haven’t seen prices slow down like this in several years. And we haven’t had this many homes available for sale since the summer of 2019. This is encouraging news for people looking to buy a home — although rising interest rates and today’s prices still present challenges for many potential buyers.”

By the end of July, LVR reported 7,331 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 143.8 percent from the same time last year. Likewise, the 1,618 condos and town homes listed without offers in July represent a 144.4 percent jump from one year earlier.

LVR reported a total of 2,672 existing local homes, condos and town homes sold in July. Compared to one year earlier, sales were down 38.4 percent for homes and down 30.6 percent for condos and town homes.

With the increased inventory, July’s sales pace equates to more than a three-month supply of properties available for sale — roughly three times the supply from earlier this year.

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

During July, LVR found that 32.1 percent of all local property sales were purchased with cash. That’s up from 31.7 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 0.2 percent of all existing local property sales in July. That compares to 0.3 percent one year ago, 1.2 percent two years ago, 2 percent three years ago, 2.9 percent four years ago and 6.4 percent five years ago.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of July 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 July was more than $1.1 billion for homes and nearly $171 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in July were down 33.1 percent for homes and down 20.2 percent for condos and town homes.

■ Homes have generally been selling faster this year than previous years. In July, 95.2 percent of all existing local homes and 95.7 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 96 percent of all homes and 94.5 percent of all condos and town homes 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.