Here’s what you and your Realtor need to know about local market conditions before touring homes or making offers this weekend. Figures are from the GLVAR MLS system, including outlying areas.

Available listings for sale:  16,454 available single family homes, 3,252 condominiums, 1,301 townhomes.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6,860 are known to be short sales and 7,244 are bank-owned. Several hundred additional properties may be “corporate owned” or in some other ownership status that is functionally the same as REO.

Contingent and Pending listings:  These properties are in the process of being purchased and are likely to close in the next 30-60 days.  6,200 single family homes, 807 condos, 352 townhomes.

Single Family Home Prices: 275 under $50,000; 1,955 between $50,000-$100,000; 7,193 between $100,000-$200,000; 5,197 between $200,000-$500,000; 1,205 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 809 over $1,000,000.

Condo Prices: 265 under $50,000; 1,219 between $50,000-$100,000; 777 between $100,000-$200,000; 565 between $200,000-$500,000; 304 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 164 over $1,000,000.

Townhome Prices: 115 under $50,000; 355 between $50,000-$100,000; 623 between $100,000-$200,000; 214 between $200,000-$500,000; 10 between $500,000-$1,000,000; only 1 over $1,000,000 (a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 2956 square feet offered for $1,090,000).

Recently sold: 344 properties have closed in the last week. 27 properties were on the market less than a week; 3 properties were on the market for longer than a year; median was 47 days. Only one $1,000,000+ property closed — only 10 so far this year. Properties over $315,000 generally sold for a discount from list price; below that level, roughly 6 out of 10 properties sold for near or above list price; below $85,000, closer to 8 out of 10 properties sold for near or above list price. In the last 30 days, 2,667 properties have closed. Year-to-date, 3,468 properties have closed.

Other data to consider: the Review-Journal tells us that foreclosure filings are down 20% from last month, but still far elevated from this time last year. They also say “Las Vegas had a total of 31,416 real-estate owned, or bank-owned, homes in 2008 and some analysts are projecting as many as 50,000 foreclosures this year.” Luckily, these properties are being priced to sell, as 27,857 properties sold last year according to the MLS system. Additional properties were sold outside the system. I still find this data bothersome because at the beginning of 2007, we had 23,940 active listings in the MLS. Add those listings to last year’s foreclosures, take away last year’s closes and current active listings, and we are missing roughly 6500 properties. Where did they go? Locally, banks are trying to dispose of property quickly, so it’s hard to believe that they are sitting on almost as much unlisted property as they have listed.

USA Today tells us that nationwide, 1 out of 9 homes is sitting vacant, a figure that is jaw-dropping if it is true.

Another USA Today item, banks are working to halt more foreclosures.

And the final bit of news you need, the $15,000 home buyer tax credit was stripped out of the stimulus package, but it could resurface in another bill.