Welcome to Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Touring, making offers, or listing property in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend? Read this first!

Summary: Available listings remain solid, just under 11,000. The gap in price between short sale and bank owned properties has been getting smaller for some time, but this week there is no difference in median price. Are banks charging a premium for the “convenience” of no short sale, or are short sellers desperate to compete with low bank pricing? We had light closings in the last week, partly due to the New Years holiday and partly due to a rush from institutional sellers to get property off the books before the end of the year.

Other Information: I’m having a hard time getting worked up about the declining number of pending listings except for the fact that so many of them are short sales locally. Unfortunately, when it comes to moving these homes into “sold” status, we are being held hostage by the banks that hold the mortgages. I am far more concerned going forward with the high unemployment rate (jobless people obviously have trouble buying homes or paying mortgages) and an optimistically predicted 3 million foreclosures in 2010.

Available Listings: There are 8998 single family homes (up), with a median price of $174,900 (up), $88 per square foot (down), with median time on market of 87 days (up). In addition, there are 1950 condominiums and townhomes (unchanged), with a median price of $84,900 (up), $72 per square foot (unchanged), and median time on market of 79 days (up).

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4682 short sales (up) and 2235 bank-owned properties (down). Median price for a short sale is $129,900 (unchanged); median price on a bank-owned home is $129,900 (up). Short sale listings, whether available or contingent, must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties. The 3994 non-distressed properties for sale (up) had a median price of $249,900, a substantial drop.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 177 under $50,000; 1344 between $50,000-$100,000; 3970 between $100,000-$200,000; 2204 between $200,000-$400,000; 682between $400,000-$700,000; 232 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 535 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 391 under $50,000; 869 between $50,000-$100,000; 530 between $100,000-$200,000; 150 between $200,000-$400,000; 38 between $400,000-$700,000; 11 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 9 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 13182 properties in the process of being purchased (down), 10605 are single family homes with median price of $135,900 (down); 2579 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of those, 8867 were short sale (down), 3200 were bank owned (down), and 1103 were non-distressed sales (down).

Recently sold: Only 389 properties closed in the last week, 3571 in the last 30 days, and 389 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 24 days (up, time on market including the contingent period was 91 days). Median sales price was $120,200 (down); median list price was $119,900 (down). Short sales accounted for 704 of them, there were 2144 bank owned properties, and 714 non-distressed sales.

Rentals: 5303 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley according to the MLS system. Median square footage of these units is 1396 and median rent is $1100. There are 553 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 1481 leases signed in the last 30 days. Again, nobody signed a lease over the holidays unless they had to do so.

Need more information or 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.