Welcome to Friday Figures! And a very special welcome to all the new readers at LivinginLV.com! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Friday Figures is real information on the Las Vegas real estate market, and the no-nonsense numbers you and your Realtor need to know before touring, listing, or making a purchase offer on a home this weekend. As always, the first Friday of the month I share month-over-month numbers to give you an idea of where the trends lie.

Summary: Available inventory rose again to 12038, almost 20% from the 10888 we had at the beginning of June. As promised, I crunched numbers and unfortunately from a strict chart standpoint I saw signs that available units might go as high as 15000 in the coming months. Between that and the end of the home buyer tax credit, that means buyers will have more options and less competition. There are more low-priced units available, but many of them cannot be financed for various reasons. Pending and contingent properties dropped, mostly due to properties closing before the end of the month to take advantage of the home buyer tax credit. However, we still have over 10,000 short sales waiting for bank approval before they can close; some may never close and some may be taken back by the bank. This number is down, but still alarming. As expected, we had a rush of closings in the last week; don’t expect another 1200+ sales completed any week soon!

Other Information: President Obama signed the extension of the home buyer tax credit this morning, but remember it only helps you if your contract was signed by the end of April! As usual, Calculated Risk is on top of all the national real estate figures, including the fact that even though banks only have a half million foreclosures on the books, there are ten times that number of seriously delinquent loans waiting for short sales, loan modifications, or foreclosure. BondDad has the latest Case-Shiller numbers; Las Vegas house prices were up 0.2% in April, but down 8.5% year over year. I am willing to take the good news where we find it! Nobody is surprised that one in three home sales in the first quarter of this year was a foreclosed home (it’s a bit higher locally). And finally with 2 major fires and legal fireworks, air quality may be a bit lower than average this weekend; take it easy and remember things like water and sunscreen.

Available Listings: There are 9690 single family homes (up), with a median price of $164,900 (down), $85 per square foot (unchanged), with median time on market of 69 days (unchanged). In addition, there are 2338  condominiums and townhomes (up), with a median price of $75,000 (unchanged), $67 per square foot (down), and median time on market of 60 days (down). Last month we had 8781 single family homes with a median price of $174,000 and 2108 condominiums and townhomes with a median price of $75,000. Why do condo prices seem so stable? Because they’ve already effectively hit bottom; it’s very hard to buy a condo with conventional financing right now, so demand is limited.

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4998 short sales (up) and 2525 bank-owned properties (up). Median price for a short sale is $128,900 (down); median price on a bank-owned home is $122,900 (down). All short sale listings must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 4468  non-distressed properties for sale (up) had a median price of $217,970 (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. At the beginning of June, we had 4501 short sales with a median price of $130,000, 2063 bank-owned properties with a median price of $126,800, and 4294 non-distressed properties for sale with a median price of $225,000.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 157 under $50,000; 1466 between $50,000-$100,000; 4748 between $100,000-$200,000; 2162 between $200,000-$400,000; 593 between $400,000-$700,000; 239 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 475 over $1,000,000. Last month’s figures were 132 under $50,000; 1201 between $50,000-$100,000; 4133 between $100,000-$200,000; 2137 between $200,000-$400,000; 594 between $400,000-$700,000; 240 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 480 over $1,000,000. It’s striking how many more units we have costing less than $200,000, and this drives the median price down.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 486 under $50,000; 1206 between $50,000-$100,000; 552 between $100,000-$200,000; 118 between $200,000-$400,000; 18 between $400,000-$700,000; 4 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 2 over $1,000,000. These figures exclude high-rise communities for technical reasons. In June there were 445 under $50,000; 1048 between $50,000-$100,000; 516 between $100,000-$200,000; 119 between $200,000-$400,000; 20 between $400,000-$700,000; 5 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 1 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 14857 properties in the process of being purchased (down), 11967 are single family homes with median price of $135,000 (unchanged); 2892 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of the total, 10831 were short sale (down), 2563 were bank owned (down), and 1452 were non-distressed sales (down). Once again, the number of contingent short sales is dropping as banks work through all the files. At the beginning of last month we had 15826 contingent and pending properties, and 11494 were short sale.

Recently sold: An amazing 1277 properties closed in the last week, 4011 in the last 30 days, and 21481 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 27 days (down, time on market including the contingent period was 106 days). Median sales price was $126,000 (down); median list price was $125,900 (down). Short sales accounted for 1378 of them (substantially up!), there were 1516 bank owned properties, and 1112 non-distressed sales. Last month we closed 3598 in the previous 30 days, median sales price was $130,000, median list price was $130,000, and only 1074 were short sales.

Rentals: 3782 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system (down). Median square footage of these units is 1371 and median rent is $1100. There are 677 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2043 leases signed in the last 30 days with median rent of $1145 and median square footage of 1545. In June we had 3725 available, 699 contingent, and 2139 new leases. Rents are effectively unchanged.

Need more information or help with your real estate needs? Call me today at 702-727-7842 or email bmagnus@bridgetmagnus.com. Based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS  Multiple Listing Service for the date specified above. This article was written and copyright by Bridget Magnus, and is her sole property.