It’s time once more for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. If you plan on touring, making an offer, or listing a home in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend, this is what you and your Realtor need to know.

Summary: Available inventory continues, amazingly, to decline while prices of single family homes edge up. The amazing part of this is that there have been over 1900 new listings (including rentals, land, etc.) since last Friday; clearly supply is being absorbed as quickly as it comes online. Private buyers are competing with investors for the properties with the most potential — the result of investor involvement is more non-distressed properties for sale and more properties for rent. Time on market is dropping, although contingent periods are getting a bit longer. As would be expected, pending and contingent sales continue to rise. While available short sales are now more common than available bank owned properties, fewer of them are actually closing — a situation that must change if we are ever going to completely get out of the foreclosure mess.

Available Listings: There are 9617 single family homes (down), with a median price of $180,990 (up!), $93 per square foot (down), with median time on market of  97 days (down). In addition, there are 2935 condominiums and townhomes (down), with a median price of $115,000 (unchanged), $98 per square foot (down), and median time on market of 118 days (down). 708 (24%) of those units are in high-rise communities, with a median price of $475,000 and median 183 days on market. Of all available listings, 4391 are owner occupied, 1456 are tenant occupied, and 6703 are vacant (54%).

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 5040 short sales (down) and 2667 bank-owned properties (down). Median price for a short sale is $135,000 (unchanged a 4th week); median price on a bank-owned home is up again at $114,000. The 4807 non-distressed properties for sale had a median price of $349,000, unchanged again. The slight rise in available non-distressed property reflects both traditional sellers coming back to the marketplace, and professional investors who buy, then “fix and flip” distressed properties.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 206 under $50,000; 1479 between $50,000-$100,000; 3760 between $100,000-$200,000; 2775 between $200,000-$500,000; 839 between $500,000-$1,000,000; and 680 over $1,000,000. The only increase was in million dollar plus properties.

Condo and Townhome Prices: 388 under $50,000; 980 between $50,000-$100,000; 780between $100,000-$200,000; 479 between $200,000-$500,000; 220 between $500,000-$1,000,000; 140 over $1,000,000. While there was a rise in “bargain” properties, most categories saw declines. An important thing to remember about condos in that price range is to be on the lookout for possible problems with the HOA that might derail getting  mortgage.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 13458 properties in the process of being purchased, 10934 are single family homes with median price of $144,900 (down slightly), $77 per square foot (unchanged), 64 days on market median (a 10% drop!); 2524 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $70,000 (unchanged), $65 per square foot (unchanged), 59 days days on market median (down 6%). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing.

Recently sold: 779 properties closed in the last week, with higher closings predicted next week. Of this week’s closings, 143 properties were on the market less than a week and 382 on the market 30 days or less; 54 were on the market more than 6 months (9 over a year); median time on market was down to 32 days (median time on market including the contingent period rose to 105 days). Short sales accounted for 84 of them, there were 582 bank owned properties, and 111 non-distressed sales. Median sales price dropped to $121,500 while median list price dropped to $119,900. Notice that median list is greater than median sales price. 4246 have closed in the last 30 days and 24444 have closed since the first of the year.

Rentals: 5048 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley according to the MLS system. There are 655 contingent leases and 1865 leases signed in the last 30 days. While rental inventory is up, so are contingent leases. Yet another side-effect of investors being back in the game.

Other information: A few items on loan modification, starting with how securitization (slicing dicing and selling your mortgage to investors) may effect your ability to get one at all, tips on avoiding scams, mortgage modification may yet be something bankruptcy judges can do, and some question whether the current mortgage plan will work. My personal opinion? It will work only if banks want it to work (more on that next week!). Sales of existing homes have been going up — nationwide! — for 3 months, but there’s still a lot of inventory in most of the country, lots of vacant homes, low rental occupancy, and continuing local issues with foreclosures. Notice in that last link they mentioned that local prices had stopped dropping last quarter? Readers of Friday Figures knew that weeks ago! Two last items, new appraisal rules and how they may effect you, and 15 American cities in the process of being “abandoned.”

One more thing: Congratulations to our newly elected GLVAR Directors, including colleague David Tina and my Broker, Paula Smith. She will be serving a second term as Treasurer.

For more information or to get help with your real estate needs, call me today at 702-727-7842 or email bmagnus@bridgetmagnus.com. Although this information is available to all GLVAR members through the MLS system, this article was written and copyright by Bridget Magnus, and is her sole property.