Good morning, and thanks for reading Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Let’s check out what you and your Realtor should know about local market conditions before touring, making an offer, or listing a home in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend.

Summary: Available inventory continues to drop, both in distressed and non-distressed properties. Not surprisingly, contingent/pending sales are up as well. Because of bargain hunters, the median price of contingent properties is lower than the median price of available properties. Did they get a bargain? Nobody will know but the buyer until closing. Over 20,000 closings have taken place this year — not bad for one of the markets hardest hit by foreclosures. Prices of homes that have actually sold have been erratic for some weeks, consistent with the idea that the market is shifting and putting in a long bottom.

Available listings for sale:  There are 10188 available single family homes, 3167 condominiums and townhomes. Current median list price fell to $166,453, while median time on market is down slightly to 108 days.

Distressed Properties: Of those listings, 5434 are noted as short sales and 2870 are bank-owned.  Median price for a short sale is lower at $135,000; Median price on bank-owned is unchanged at $109,900. Time on market for distressed properties is markedly lower than for non-distressed properties. The 5007 non-distressed properties for sale had a median price of $349,000, unchanged from last week.

Contingent and Pending listings: Properties in the process of being purchased are 10758 single family homes, 2351 condos and townhomes. Median asking price of contingent houses rose to $145,900 with median time on market of 75 days; median asking price of contingent condos/townhomes dropped to $70,900 with 70 days on market.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 249 under $50,000; 1579 between $50,000-$100,000; 4012 between $100,000-$200,000; 2917 between $200,000-$500,000; 874 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 698 over $1,000,000. Median price on an available single family home dropped $100 to t $179,900; median price per square foot is still $94. 5120 are vacant, 1078 are tenant occupied.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 421 under $50,000; 1062 between $50,000-$100,000; 862 between $100,000-$200,000; 517 between $200,000-$500,000; 223 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 142 over $1,000,000. Median asking price on these units is unchanged at $115,000; median price per square foot is down to $98. 1991 are vacant, 498 are tenant occupied.

Recently sold: 828 properties have closed in the last week, and next week should also have high numbers of closing properties. 4384 have closed in the last 30 days and 20341 have closed since the first of the year. Of the properties closed in the last week, 95 properties were on the market less than a week; 80 were on the market more than 6 months (6 over a year); remained stable at 41 days (median time on market including the contingent period went down to 110 days). Median sales price dropped to $120,000 and median list price dropped to $123,500.

Rentals: 4872 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley according to the MLS system — up from last week. There are 644 contingent leases and 1767 leases signed in the last 30 days. All those numbers are up from last week, a generally healthy sign for investors and renters alike.

Other information: I am hearing rumors that some bank owned properties are getting 50-200 offers, and I can’t in good conscience get clients involved in that sort of feeding frenzy. This sort of demand means that prices almost have to go up. Banks are also getting very picky about short sales, often using appraisals as an excuse to hold out for tens of thousands more dollars. My advice is to check comparable properties carefully, and in most cases see the list price as a minimum bid. Elsewhere, we have news on shadow inventory, specifically properties that banks refuse to foreclose on. I’m hearing rumors of foreclosed homes being turned over to management companies and turned into rentals, but obviously that can only happen when the property is in pristine condition — leaving only the worst homes available for purchase. If this is true, it would explain why the number of available rentals has been slowly rising. Based on what I am seeing, when asked “Do we need a stronger buyer tax credit” I must answer “Heck No!” And for a look at the markets outside Vegas, Forbes informs us that property values in wealthy neighborhoods are still dropping.

Buyers, sellers, and the curious can learn more by clicking the “Contact Me!” link in the sidebar or calling 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.