Welcome to today’s Friday Figures. I’ll be presenting information from the GLVAR MLS system. Since it’s the last Friday of the quarter, I will add some 4th quarter 2008 statistics (courtesy of the NAR) for comparison. Here’s what you and your Realtor need to know before conducting residential real estate business this weekend.

Available listings for sale:  15462 available single family homes, 4555 condominiums and townhomes. The change in single family was an inconsequential 2 homes, while condos/townhomes were down 1%.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6935 are noted as short sales and 6526 are bank-owned. A slight rise in short sales, but a rather substantial drop in bank owned properties. 

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties in the process of being purchased are 7713 single family homes, 1444 condos and townhomes. Not only did we break over 9000, we pushed right through 9100.  Of those properties, 5052 were listed at or below $150,000 and 6866 under $200,000. Reduced prices and record low mortgage rates are coming together to bring buyers to the table.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 316 under $50,000; 2238 between $50,000-$100,000; 6641 between $100,000-$200,000; 4553 between $200,000-$500,000; 1112 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 796 over $1,000,000 (unchanged). The only price ranges with increases were the sub-$100k market and the million plus market.  The fall in other price ranges is a combination of homes going to contingent/pending status, and simply revising the list price downwards. 

Condo and Townhome Prices: 516 under $50,000; 1608 between $50,000-$100,000; 1325 between $100,000-$200,000; 725 between $200,000-$500,000; 283 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 164 over $1,000,000 (5 weeks in a row of down just one!). My prediction of over 500 units priced under $50,000 this week was accurate if obvious. All other segments had small changes.

Recently sold: 681 properties have closed in the last week, under 700 but in line with the last 5 weeks. There were 3456 in the last 30 days, and 8057 have closed since the first of the year.  Of the properties closed in the last week, 63 properties were on the market less than a week (mostly priced under $200,000); 49 were on the market more than 6 months; median dropped to 55 days. Median sales price this rose slightly to $135,000 while median list price was almost unchanged at $139,900. For comparison, median since the first of the year is roughly $145,000, and median for Q4 2008 was $181,700. In addition to the sheer volume of distressed property sales, “foreclosure rage” may be driving down home prices. Actual sales are up to 2006 levels, while sales growth is at unprecedented levels.

Rentals: 4741 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley (up 1). There are 595 contingent leases (unchanged) and 1826 leases signed in the last 30 days (down). These figures are strictly from the MLS system. Almost all of them are professionally managed (or owned by real estate licensees). “For rent by owner” is largely unrepresented here.

Other information:  While the Las Vegas Valley did lose 15,500 jobs in 2008, we are still up 14,100 jobs over a 3 year period. Even though we have homeless people like everywhere else, at least we don’t have a huge problem with tent cities. 

I am available to help a limited number of buyers and sellers with their residential real estate needs. Please click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the number at the top of the page.  While this data is available to any Realtor willing to look it up, this presentation was published by Bridget Magnus on BridgetMagnus.com and is her property. Have a great weekend!

A full month ago the Hope for Homeowners plan was declared “hopeless“, pointing out that the program designed to help 400,000 homeowners by now had closed a whopping 25 loans. That’s not even a hundreth of a percent of their goal. There were a lot of reasons it didn’t work, including high fees for homeowners and heavy losses for banks. 

Today, CNN reports that the program has only actually prevented one forclosure. In fact, they’ve only received 752 applications! The amazing part of that is that they receive thousands of calls each day. Nevertheless, Congress thinks the program can be “tweaked”. I doubt anything can save the program short of forcing bank participation, and I’m not sure that’s a good idea either. 

In other news, there are some signs that the market for pre-existing housing is stablizing, but there remains what some experts call a “distressing” gap between pre-existing home sales and new home sales.

This gap, in my opinion, is caused by the fact that some bank-owned and short-sale homes are being sold for prices the builders simply can’t compete with. If you have $150,000 to spend on housing, which would you prefer: a slightly older but bigger home on a bigger lot that needs some work; or something with “new house smell”? 

I’d like to close with a local interest item. Las Vegas is in the desert. Our water company reminds us of this regularly in radio and print ads. This last Sunday, the local paper published a list of the 100 biggest residential water users, noting that their use could have covered 1950 “normal” users. By way of counterpoint, here’s 5 cheap ways to save 1000 gallons of water every year in your home. If you pay for your own water, you can’t afford not to read it.

Thanks for checking in on the Friday Figures! This information is from the GLVAR MLS.  It’s what you and your Realtor need to know about the current Vegas real estate market.

Available listings for sale:  15640 available single family homes, 4602 condominiums and townhomes. That is a slight rise from last week, but not enough to raise concern. The multiple week trend is still down. Sellers are clearly encouraged by the fact that pending and contingent listings (see below) are continuing to rise.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6897 are noted as short sales and 6752 are bank-owned. No shock that both these numbers are slight gains as well. 

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties are in the process of being purchased are 7401 single family homes (A huge gain!), 1359 condos and townhomes (up a little) bringing the total to over 8700. Perhaps in coming weeks we will break over 9000? It’s worth pointing out that 2770 are short sales and 5106 are bank owned. It doesn’t take a lot of math to see that “regular” sales are in the minority.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 305 under $50,000; 2201 between $50,000-$100,000; 6784 between $100,000-$200,000; 4628 between $200,000-$500,000; 1124 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 791 over $1,000,000 (unchanged). All price ranges under $200,000 saw increased inventory. 

Condo and Townhome Prices: 492 under $50,000; 1641 between $50,000-$100,000; 1342 between $100,000-$200,000; 739 between $200,000-$500,000; 286 between $500,000-$1,000,000 (unchanged); and 165 over $1,000,000 (down just one the 4th week in a row!). I fully expect to see over 500 units priced under $50,000 next week.

Recently sold: 739 properties have closed in the last week, giving us over 700 closings for 3 of the last 4 weeks. There were 3418 in the last 30 days, and 7325 have closed since the first of the year. In the last 30 days, only 265 of our closes were short sales and an amazing 2711 were bank-owned, leaving a bit over 400 non-distressed sales. Short sales are hard to close and spend more time in contingent or pending status. Of the properties closed in the last week, 77 properties were on the market less than a week (price range of $48,000 to $550,000); 7 were on the market over a year, 62 were on the market more than 6 months; median rose to 57 days. Median sales price was dropped to $133,000 while median list price was $139,000. Bargain hunting continues while bargain inventory likewise continues.

Rentals: 4740 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley (a decline). There are 595 contingent leases (up) and 1856 leases signed in the last 30 days (up). Let’s hope some of the bargain hunters are planning on renting those homes out.

Other information:  I’m not sure what to make of this story about a Chinese investor home-buying tour fizzling out before hitting Vegas; Forbes on America’s Downsized Cities (hint, all are in the Northeast); Nevada’s unemployment rate has almost doubled over the last year, so be prepared for more distressed sales; and outside sources confirm that while our home sales are up, our prices are down.

If you need help buying or selling real estate in the Las Vegas Valley, please click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the number at the top of the page. Make it a great weekend!

While homebuilder confidence remains near a record low, it turns out that actual housing starts are up 22% mostly due to apartments (official Census report). It sounds like the homebuilders have put in a “panic bottom”.

Renters, beware of the NAR lease scam. “In this scam, rental property is offered to consumers, who are led to believe that NAR is functioning as an intermediary to receive rental deposits from prospective tenants and, upon receipt of the deposit, to deliver the keys to the property to the tenant. The tenant is instructed to send money via Western Union to NAR’s purported agent, in the United Kingdom. NAR is not involved in this business and believes it is a scam.” At least it isn’t Elvis. 

A new HUD and DOT initiative is designed to tackle both housing and transportation costs at the same time. Many Americans have found themselves in a situation where they can’t really afford to live anyplace near their work. This is expensive and stressful for the entire family. 

This morning, I was forwarded a report on average closing prices here in Clark County. No shock that prices have declined again and foreclosure sales are up.  Prices are down roughly 60% from their peak, and have declined for 11 straight months. But the rate of decline is slowing. Greed and fear say to wait for prices to fall more, but the fact is that we won’t know where bottom is until prices begin to rise again. That’s one of several reasons I track not only average prices, but the number of homes in various price ranges.

At least we aren’t in Detroit, where the median home price is $7500, roughly what you would pay for a Hyundai. Yet more evidence that housing markets are fundamentally local, not national.

And one last item, how to spend time in Vegas without spending money.

I hope everyone will join me tomorrow for Friday Figures!

In the meantime, if you have a real estate need, please be sure to click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the phone number at the top of the page.

Welcome, Readers! I have the latest local market data from the GLVAR MLS.  This is what’s really happening in our market right now, and you and your Realtor need to be aware before making purchase offers or putting your home on the market this weekend.

Available listings for sale:  15594 available single family homes, 4520 condominiums and townhomes. 12393 of these properties are vacant, 1908 occupied by tenants. Available houses dropped substantially. Over the last 4 weeks, the supply of single family homes is down 860, while we are only down 33 condos and townhomes. I think this is partly because there are so many houses available for under $100,000; why buy a condo when you can have a house for the same money? Another major factor is that some condo HOAs are in such trouble that the units effectively can’t be financed.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6869 are noted as short sales and 6659 are bank-owned. The 4 week trend in short sales is up just 9, but for bank-owned the 4 week trend is down by 585. There is still a lot of bank-owned inventory, and that is where the majority of our sales are coming from.

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties are in the process of being purchased are 7097 single family homes, 1333 condos and townhomes — breaking well over 8400. Both figures are up substantially over last week, and up 1071 from 4 weeks ago. Things continue to look good for future closings.

Single Family Home Prices: 289 under $50,000; 2149 between $50,000-$100,000; 6699 between $100,000-$200,000; 4687 between $200,000-$500,000; 1151 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 791 over $1,000,000 (down 7). The only price range with appreciably more listings was the $50,000-$100,000 range. Thankfully, I am seeing a lot of buyer interest in this range to go along with the inventory. For the record, 4 weeks ago we had 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 and Townhome Prices: 447 under $50,000; 1598 between $50,000-$100,000; 1336 between $100,000-$200,000; 751 between $200,000-$500,000; 286 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 166 over $1,000,000 (down just one continues a third week). Really negligible changes. However, 4 weeks ago we had merely 380 available under $50,000.

Recently sold: 650 properties have closed in the last week, under 700 but still substantial. Remember, closings tend to cluster around the end/beginning of the month. There were 3136 in the last 30 days, and 6527 have closed since the first of the year. Of closes in 2009, 515 were short sales and an amazing 5239 were bank-owned. Of the properties closed in the last week, an 69 properties were on the market less than a week and 260 were on the market 30 days or less; 6 were on the market over a year; median was only 46 days. Median sales price was up to $139,900 while median list price was $140,000 — not much difference between the two. 79 properties closed for $50,000 or less, 209 for $100,000 or less, 554 sold for $250,000 or less, only 4 sold fore more than $1,000,000 (days on market for these ranged from 60 to 913). It is clear that the “bargain basement” of housing will drive our market for some time to come.

Rentals: 4798 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley. 1024 are willing to consider less than a year lease; 170 are willing to consider a lease option. There are 550 contingent leases and 1821 leases signed in the last 30 days. The foreclosure crisis has played havoc with available rental housing.

One Last Thing: Be sure to lock your moving truck. This story could have turned out worse. 

I solve residential problems: where am I going to live; how can I find a home in my budget; how am I going to sell this house; how can I find a Realtor in another state. To learn more, click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the number at the top of the page. Have a great weekend!

Just a couple of quick mortgage related items today. 

First, what you should probably know about VA loans even if you aren’t a mortgage broker. 

And finally, it appears that just about all lenders are requiring a minimum credit score of 620. If you are considering a home purchase a few months down the road, this is the time to check your credit, contest any errors, and if necessary contact a credit repair service. Many mortgage brokers will be able to put you in touch with someone who provides that service.

Good afternoon, everyone! Here’s the latest local market data from the GLVAR MLS.  This is what you and your Realtor should know before touring, making purchase offers, or putting your home on the market this weekend.

Available listings for sale:  15852 available single family homes, 4542 condominiums and townhomes. 12686 of these properties are vacant, a substantial 62%. Available houses dropped far more than available condos/townhomes. It’s been a while since we had fewer than 16,000 houses available!

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6863 are noted as short sales (a decline) and 6867 are bank-owned (also a decline). So much for trends continuing. This is probably a result of accepted offers taking distressed property out of inventory. As happy as I am to see this, it won’t continue forever (see other info, below).

Contingent and Pending listings:  Properties are in the process of being purchased are 6795 single family homes (a gain of 158, continuing a trend of gains), 1253 condos and townhomes (up 15, but still up). Closed sales will almost certainly trend upwards as well.

Single Family Home Prices: 288 under $50,000; 2085 between $50,000-$100,000; 6857 between $100,000-$200,000; 4828 between $200,000-$500,000 (a substantial drop); 1167 between $500,000-$1,000,000 (down 22); and 798 over $1,000,000 (up 3). Most price ranges had very similar inventory levels to last week. the $200,000-$500,000 range being the only exception. Perhaps this week had a lot of “affordable luxury” buyers.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 431 under $50,000 (up 29); 1601 between $50,000-$100,000; 1357 between $100,000-$200,000; 759 between $200,000-$500,000; 286 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 167 over $1,000,000 (down just one for the second week in a row). Inventory levels at most price ranges is stable. There’s still plenty of inventory for “bargain hunters” both here and in single family housing.

Recently sold: Another 774 properties have closed in the last week, 2907 in the last 30 days, and 5782 have closed since the first of the year. This is great news for working through inventory and absorbing future foreclosures. Of the properties closed in the last week, an amazing 64 properties were on the market less than a week; only 6 properties were on the market for longer than a year; median was 53 days (effectively unchanged from last week’s 54 days). Median sales price was $125,000 while median list price was $149,000. 71 properties closed for $50,000 or less, a couple of them at a ludicrous bargain over list price (was the sales price entered wrong? was there are fire?); 652 sold for $250,000 or less. Homes listed between $70,000 and $450,000 generally sold near list price, or at a premium over list price. Only 18 homes sold for more than $500,000.

Rentals: 4742 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent. Only 1002 are willing to consider less than a year lease; 173 are willing to consider a lease option.

Other Data to consider: it seems that roughly 55% of Nevadans are underwater on their mortgages. Further, Clark County is one of only 35 counties leading the nation in foreclosures. With so many Nevadans owing more than their homes are worth, short sales and foreclosed properties will be part of our real estate landscape for some time to come.

I am available to answer your questions, to help you find a home, or to put your home on the market. Yes, I can even help you if you are underwater on your mortgage. To learn more, click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar, or just call the number at the top of the page. Have a great weekend!

Yesterday we learned that we had record low pending sales in January. It’s important to remember that this data has only been collected since 2001. 

That data is nationwide. Here in Las Vegas, we are not experiencing low pendings. In fact, pending sales are on the increase. We have had over 7000 pending/contingent contracts for several weeks running now. A year ago it was just under 4000. That’s just one more reminder that real estate markets are local, not national. 

Not all is rosy here, however. We still have way too many homes that are somewhere in the foreclosure process. This map says it all: “What we had is less a foreclosure problem than a foreclosures in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida problem.” Nevada still has the highest rate of foreclosures and pre-foreclosures. That tells me that without some radical intervention, we will have a supply of bargain-priced distressed property for at least 6 months.

For more detailed information on our local market, or assistance buying/selling real estate, please be sure to click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar or call the number at the top of the page.