Once again it’s time for Friday Figures! Thanks for reading! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Before touring, making an offer, or listing a home in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend, have a look at this.

Summary: Available units continue to creep downwards, now at 10295! Will that number drop under 10000? Inventory is dropping in both distressed and traditional listings, as well as in almost every price range. This should be a wake-up call for anybody who still thinks you can make a low-ball offer on a Vegas property! (Sure, make your offer, but understand that it won’t get accepted). The only reason we are not seeing upwards pressure on listing prices is that the banks are setting foreclosure listings low; everyone else has to match those low prices to compete. Not surprisingly, the number of contingent and pending listings rose and is now 5000+ greater than the number of available units. Actual closings are moving at a healthy pace and there are small signs that the backlog of contingent short sales is moving toward closed sales. While rental listings in the MLS continue to decline, apartment vacancy is up, forcing rents down, and resulting in many foreclosed multi-family properties. However, banks often choose to manage such properties until things turn around. Having experience in the apartment industry, I can say this is nothing new.

Other Information: It’s not a good week for the casino industry. Station Casinos is selling most of the system and only keeping 4 facilities. Up at Lake Tahoe, the historic Cal Neva will be closing its casino, although they expect it to re-open next year. What is bad for casinos is of course bad for the Las Vegas unemployment rate, which is up to 13.9%. For a variety of reasons, it is no surprise that the inventory of foreclosed homes nationally is rising again (this is not true locally!). Some criticize the HAMP program for not doing enough to actually prevent these foreclosures. Changes to that program were announced earlier today, and it remains to see how those will be implemented and how effective it will be.

Available Listings: There are 8371 single family homes (down), with a median price of $175,000 (unchanged), $89 per square foot (up), with median time on market of 77 days (up). In addition, there are 1920 condominiums and townhomes (down), with a median price of $79,900 (unchanged), $71 per square foot (unchanged), and median time on market of 69 days (unchanged).

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4692 short sales (down) and 1408 bank-owned properties (down). Remember that nationwide, the trend is for more bank owned properties, but our levels are declining. Median price for a short sale is $129,000 (unchanged); median price on a bank-owned home is $135,900 (up). All short sale listings must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 4168 non-distressed properties for sale (down) had a median price of $239,000, 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 then renovated by investors.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 110 under $50,000; 1122 between $50,000-$100,000; 3822 between $100,000-$200,000; 2093 between $200,000-$400,000; 623 between $400,000-$700,000; 238 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 496 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 405 under $50,000; 863 between $50,000-$100,000; 540 between $100,000-$200,000; 128 between $200,000-$400,000; 27 between $400,000-$700,000; 6 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 1 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 15521 properties in the process of being purchased (up), 12539 are single family homes with median price of $137,000 (up); 2982 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of those, 10698 were short sale (up), 2993 were bank owned (down), and 1810 were non-distressed sales (up).

Recently sold: 755 properties closed in the last week, 3636 in the last 30 days, and 9015 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 31 days (down, time on market including the contingent period was 109 days). Median sales price was $122,500 (up); median list price was $121,694 (up). Short sales accounted for 894 of them (yes, up again!), there were 1880 bank owned properties, and 853 non-distressed sales.

Rentals: 4428 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system. Median square footage of these units is 1356 and median rent is $1095. There are 896 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2188 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.