Las Vegas no longer affordable for many residents as election looms

By Patrick Blennerhassett Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 1, 2024 – 6:00 am

Maria Isabel Macias has had the same dream since she moved to Las Vegas more than a decade ago.

“I want to own a home,” said the 58-year-old who was recently out election canvassing in North Las Vegas for the Culinary Union. “That is the dream, that is the American dream.”

But things haven’t gone according to plan, as Macias has had to move in with her sister, and the cook who works at Caesars Palace said every year her dream gets farther and farther away and her monthly expenses are not keeping up with her wages. She now feels like she might always be stuck renting and not building wealth through a mortgage payment.

“Everything has gone up, water, garbage, electricity,” she said. “It’s just getting harder and harder all the time.”

Macias said she’s voting for Democrat Kamala Harris and one of the main reasons is Harris’ plan to offer first-time homebuyers a $25,000 down payment support for 400,000 Americans so she can get into the housing market.

Las Vegas finds itself in the middle of a housing crisis and affordability has become the top issue with the election just days away. Both Harris and Trump have offered starkly contrasting visions for how they would fix the economy, and voters are now almost divided 50/50 on who is best suited to tackle the affordability issue.

John Restrepo, a principal with Las Vegas-based RCG Economics, an economic consultancy company, said the housing data over the past decade in the valley tells a compelling story and is in line with Macias frustrations.

“While Clark County was seen as having an affordable housing market in for many years, that is no longer the case,” he said. “For example, in 2014, the median resale price was $172,800 and the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage was 4.3 percent.”

Mortgage rates rose above 7 percent again, according to recent data from Redfin, even after the Federal Reserve delivered its first rate cut in two years, a move that was largely expected to help with affordability for average Americans. While mortgage rates are not directly tied to interest rates, Redfin’s report said elevated mortgage rates now point to a potential inflation risk down the road.