Southern Nevada home prices rise; fewer homes sell

A report released Wednesday by Las Vegas Realtors shows local home prices setting another all-time record despite the coronavirus pandemic, though fewer homes sold in August than during the same time last year.

LVR (formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors) reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during August was $335,000. That’s up 9.8 percent from $305,000 during the same month last year.

Local condos and town homes sold for a median price of $185,000 in August. Although that’s down from the previous month, prices for existing local condos and town homes were still up 4.5 percent from $177,000 in August of 2019.

“The Las Vegas housing market continues to defy expectations, though we’re not sure how long this momentum will last as we continue to deal with this pandemic and accompanying economic downturn,” said 2020 LVR President Tom Blanchard, a longtime local Realtor.

LVR reported a total of 3,594 existing local homes, condos and town homes were sold during August. Compared to the same time last year, August sales were down 8.1 percent for homes and down 10.8 percent for condos and town homes.

Blanchard said the local housing market continues to benefit from strong demand and historically low mortgage interest rates. It also helps that the local housing market was on solid footing when Nevada declared a state of emergency in March. At the time, local home sales were running ahead of last year’s pace and existing local home prices had just surpassed their longstanding record of $315,000 set back in June of 2006.

According to LVR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012 before rebounding steadily since then.

Blanchard said the number of local homes available for sale remains well below the six-month supply considered to be a balanced market. In fact, he said the sales pace in August equates to less than a two-month supply of homes available for sale, creating a local housing shortage.

By the end of August, LVR reported 4,639 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 40.3 percent from one year ago. For condos and town homes, the 1,544 properties listed without offers in August represented a 17 percent drop from one year ago.

LVR reported that 17.5 percent of all local properties sold in August were purchased with cash. That compares to 22.7 percent one year ago. That’s well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, suggesting that cash buyers and investors have been less active in the local housing market.

Despite the coronavirus crisis, the number of so-called distressed sales in August remained near historically low levels. The association reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 1.2 percent of all existing local property sales in August. That compares to 2.1 percent of all sales one year ago, 2.5 percent two years ago and 6.1 percent three years ago.

Blanchard expects distressed sales to remain low as long as state and federal moratoriums remain in place to prevent most evictions and certain foreclosures.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of August 2020. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for 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 August was nearly $1.2 billion for homes and nearly $136 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in August were up 6.2 percent for homes, but down 6.7 percent for condos and town homes.

In August, 77.2 percent of all existing local homes and 73.1 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 74.6 percent of all existing local homes and 71.5 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days.

Las Vegas Realtors (formerly known as GLVAR) was founded in 1947 and provides its more than 15,000 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.