If I may, let’s start with all the bad news. December home prices “dropped sharply“. If you look at the money-green line representing Vegas on this Case-Shiller index chart, you’ll see that on average, our prices are at 2003 levels. This is consistent with what I am seeing on the ground. I’m just glad I don’t own property near Detroit! If you read articles like this one about how home sales have plummeted and not even super-low prices are helping, then you might have missed the fact that sales in the Western region of the country “surged”, and “Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco made up the top five major metro areas in the country to register an increase in home sales, according to the Associated Press-Re/Max Monthly Housing Report, released Wednesday.”

Now then, on to what you and your Realtor need to know this weekend if you are buying or selling real estate in the Las Vegas Valley. Data from GLVAR MLS.

Available listings for sale:  16187 available single family homes, 4577 condominiums and townhomes. A very slight decline.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6958 are known to be short sales (up just 28) and 7001 are bank-owned (a drop of 204). I expect this trend of slightly up shorts and slightly down REOs to continue for several weeks.

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties are in the process of being purchased are 6637 single family homes (over 400 more than last week), 1238 condos and townhomes (up about 50). This is a great sign for continued health in our local market.

Single Family Home Prices: 286 under $50,000; 2087 between $50,000-$100,000; 7001 between $100,000-$200,000; 5008 between $200,000-$500,000; 1189 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 795 over $1,000,000. The trend towards more sub-$100k homes continues; fewer homes in all other price ranges. This could reflect dropping prices, more purchases in the higher price ranges, or both. Prices are for available units, not pending or contingent units.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 402 under $50,000 (up 5); 1613 between $50,000-$100,000 (up 5); 1394 between $100,000-$200,000 (up 2); 765 between $200,000-$500,000 (down 10); 294 between $500,000-$1,000,000 (down single digits); and 168 over $1,000,000 (down just one). Not enough has changed to see any forming trends.

Recently sold: An incrdible 778 properties have closed in the last week, 2858 in the last 30 days, and 4913 have closed since the first of the year.  Of the properties closed in the last week, 58 properties were on the market less than a week; 5 properties were on the market for longer than a year; median was 54 days. Median sales price was $135,000 while median list price was $139,900. 76 properties closed for $50,000 or less (one of them under $10,000); 709 sold for $250,000 or less. The majority of properties sold for less than $300,000 had sales prices within a few thousand dollars of list price. 

Other data to consider: This is the last business day of the month. February totals will soon be available for analysis.

Have a great weekend, and be sure to click the “Contact Me” link in the sidebar or call the number at the top of this page if you need more detailed information or help buying or selling a house, condo, or townhome.