Happy Friday! Thanks for checking out Friday Figures. All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s what you and your Realtor should know before touring, making an offer, or listing a home in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend.

Summary: Available listings dropped again, although not as much as in previous weeks. The number of vacant listings has dropped notably over the last 12 weeks — a side effect of working through bank-owned inventory (all of which were vacant). Declines in distressed listings continue. Pending sales keep rising, now totalling over 12,500. Median sales prices are starting to stabilize. Mortgage interest rates took a jump this week, so buyers and potential buyers should be sure to consult their mortgage professionals.

Available listings for sale:  There are 11299 available single family homes, 3527 condominiums and townhomes. Current median list price dropped slightly to $167,250, and median time on market is up to 111 days. Vacant units accounted for 8016 listings or 54% (1759 were tenant occupied). Twelve weeks ago, it was 15852 available single family homes, 4542 condominiums and townhomes, with a vacancy rate of 62%.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 6053 are noted as short sales and 3309 are bank-owned.  Median price for a short sale is down slightly at $139,000; Median price on bank-owned is very minimally down at $114,888. Non-distressed properties for sale had a median price of $339,000 — a notable rise from last week, probably caused by pending sales of lower-priced non-distressed properties. Just 12 weeks ago we had 6863 short sales  and 6867 bank-owned listings. That’s right: in 12 weeks we’ve cut the number of bank-owned listings by half.

Contingent and Pending listings: Properties in the process of being purchased are 10369 single family homes, 2143 condos and townhomes. Median asking price of contingent houses is unchanged at $149,000; median asking price of contingent condos/townhomes is down to $70,900. The accepted price is confidential until the sale closes. Twelve weeks ago we had only 6795 single family homes and 1253 condos/townhomes pending. That’s a rise of 55%. Of current pending sales, 4784 are short sales and 6393 are bank owned.  That does leave 1298 traditional, non-distressed sales.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 250 under $50,000; 1712 between $50,000-$100,000; 4605 between $100,000-$200,000; 3192 between $200,000-$500,000; 951 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 758 over $1,000,000. Sub-$100k inventory is rising while most other inventory falls. Median price on an available single family home is unchanged for a third week at $179,900; median price per square foot is $94. Twelve weeks ago we had 288 under $50,000; 2085 between $50,000-$100,000; 6857 between $100,000-$200,000; 4828 between $200,000-$500,000; 1167 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 798 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 422 under $50,000; 1197 between $50,000-$100,000; 1026 between $100,000-$200,000; 553 between $200,000-$500,000; 248 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 148 over $1,000,000. Median asking price on these units dropped slightly to $115,000; median price per square foot is up to $100. Twelve weeks ago it was 431 under $50,000; 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.

Recently sold: 709 properties have closed in the last week — the last week of the month, not bad when Memorial Day is taken into account. It’s worth pointing out that 541 of those 709 were bank owned. 3926 have closed in the last 30 days and 16147 have closed since the first of the year. Of the properties closed in the last week, 93 properties were on the market less than a week; only 54 were on the market more than 6 months (7 were on the market more than a year, one was on the market for 2 years); median dropped again to 42 days (median time on market including the contingent period also dropped to 108 days). Median sales price dropped to $128,000 and median list price also dropped to $128,000.  Twelve weeks ago, median time on market was 53 days, median sales price was $125,000 and median list price was $149,000. While median list is down, median sales price is up. There is evidence of price stability.

Rentals: 4650 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley according to the MLS system — down from last week. Only 875 are willing to consider anything less than a 1 year lease. There are 597 contingent leases and 1741 leases signed in the last 30 days. Twelve weeks ago it was 4742 available rentals.

Other information: I should probably be more concerned than I am about the record number of mortgage defaults and foreclosures announced yesterday morning. First, this is a national number which may or may not change our local market. Second, I wonder how many of these defaults are borrowers who were until recently doing everything they could to stay in good standing, but have come to the conclusion that the only way to get their mortgage company to deal with them was to stop paying. You also need to know that mortgage interest rates are on their way back up from historic lows. This looks like an excellent time to lock in a rate. Mortgages may also get easier to obtain now that the mortgage backed securities market is starting to find a new “normal” condition.

For more information or help with your real estate needs, click the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar or call the number at the top of the page. Friday Figures is published by Bridget Magnus on BridgetMagnus.com and is her property, even though any GLVAR Realtor can access this data.