Happy Friday! I’m glad you could join me for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Are you planning on touring, making an offer, or listing a home in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend? This is what you need to be aware of first!

Summary: Available units remain just under 11,000 at 10887. Contingent and pending units rose slightly to roughly 14,600, but the real question is how many of the 9800+ short sales in that number will ever close? The number of short sales that actually close has been inching up, but it will still be a long time before we work through currently contingent properties. Our rental market is still going strong, with available units continuing to decline. It’s a great time to be an investor with cash and plenty of patience in Las Vegas.

Other Information: There’s a lot going on in the housing market nationally, so please bear with me on these rather economics heavy items. Rental prices suggest that housing prices are a little high, but still closer to the bottom than the top nationally (this probably does not apply locally).  The same author points out that the number of available rental units has surged, depressing rental prices (locally we have a divergence between available apartments and available rental homes/condos). The Case-Shiller index shows “mixed” results, which is no surprise to me. While sales of existing homes is brisk due to artificially low prices driven by the foreclosure market, the sale of new homes is hitting record lows. The CEO of Freddie Mac does expect a new wave of foreclosures, but President Obama wants to prevent that by requiring HAMP review before foreclosing — an already overwhelmed system. This of course will only be helpful if principal cramdown is on the table as a modification. The Review-Journal told us what my readers already know: that investors with cash are the driving force in our market right now. Mortgage rates are inching up, but I am having a hard time panicking over rates at 5.05%.

Available Listings: There are 8950 single family homes (down), with a median price of $174,900 (unchanged), $88 per square foot (unchanged), with median time on market of 87 days (down). In addition, there are 1938 condominiums and townhomes (up), with a median price of $79,900 (down), $70 per square foot (unchanged), and median time on market of 76 days (down).

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4986 short sales (up) and 1721 bank-owned properties (down). Median price for a short sale is $129,323 (up); median price on a bank-owned home is $130,000 (up). Short sale listings, whether available or contingent, must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties. The 4148 non-distressed properties for sale (up) had a median price of $240,000, down. While many of the non-distressed properties are traditional sellers, many others were purchased less than 6 months ago as short sale or bank owned, and renovated by investors.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 138 under $50,000; 1288 between $50,000-$100,000; 4082 between $100,000-$200,000; 2191 between $200,000-$400,000; 664 between $400,000-$700,000; 218 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 512 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 419 under $50,000; 869 between $50,000-$100,000; 529 between $100,000-$200,000; 124 between $200,000-$400,000; 27 between $400,000-$700,000; 8 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 2 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 14608 properties in the process of being purchased (up), 11775 are single family homes with median price of $136,000 (up); 2834 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of those, 9861 were short sale (up), 3177 were bank owned (down), and 1562 were non-distressed sales (another substantial rise).

Recently sold: 715 properties closed in the last week, 3195 in the last 30 days, and 5631 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 33 days (up, time on market including the contingent period was 105 days). Median sales price was $120,000 (down); median list price was $120,000 (down). Short sales accounted for 720 of them, there were 1804 bank owned properties, and 665 non-distressed sales.

Rentals: 4583 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system. Median square footage of these units is 1350 and median rent is $1095. There are 864 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2293 leases signed in the last 30 days.

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.