A recent report by the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) shows home prices in Southern Nevada close to their all-time high.
GLVAR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during September was $310,000. That’s up 3.3% from an even $300,000 in September of 2018 and an increase of $5,000 from August 2019. Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in September was $171,000. That was down 0.6% from $170,000 in September of 2018.
Before slowing down this year, local home prices had been soaring since early 2012, posting double-digit gains from year to year while climbing back toward their all-time peak of $315,000 in June of 2006. Local home prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012.
Just as prices have been rising more gradually, fewer homes have been selling this year compared to the previous few years. The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during September was 3,430. Compared to one year ago, September sales were up 12.9% for homes and up 19.5% for condos and townhomes. GLVAR reported a total of 42,876 local property sales in 2018, down from 45,388 in all of 2017. 2019 has been just below last year’s sales pace.
The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during September was nearly $995 million for homes and more than $125 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in September were up 19.4% for homes and up 20.3% for condos and townhomes.
As for inventory, by the end of September, GLVAR reported 7,334 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 19.3% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,830 properties listed without offers in September represented a 35.0% increase from one year ago.
Homes and condos are selling at a slower pace than last year at this time. In September, 75.5% of all existing local homes and 72.2% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 86.6 percent of all existing local homes and 90.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.
While the local housing supply is up from one year ago, it’s still below the six-month supply that is considered to be a more balanced market. At the current sales pace, Southern Nevada has less than a three-month supply of homes available for sale.
GLVAR reported that 23.0% of all local properties sold in September were purchased with cash. That’s down from 24.8% one year ago, and well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active in the local housing market, but are playing a smaller role than they were during and just after the recession.
Along the same lines, the number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 2.0% of all existing local property sales in September. That compares to 2.5% of all sales one year ago and 5.2% two years ago.
These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of September 2019. GLVAR 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.
