Nov 11
11
Welcome to an incredibly auspicious Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. No joke, it’s what you and your REALTOR need to know before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend. Join me as I talk about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network today and every Friday at 2:00 PM! Today we talk about appraisals and how they effect you. Be sure to join us!
Summary: We’ve dropped below 13,000 available properties at 12917. Expect a temporary drop in foreclosed properties over the next 4-6 months as banks get used to dealing with new quirks in state law (see below). It shouldn’t be any great shock that since our availables are down, our units contingent or pending are up. This does mean that homes are going under contract, rather than listings expiring. That’s good news. Closings are still strong into year end. With 800-1100 short sales closing every 30 days, that means it could take 8-10 months to get through just the ones under contract, and another 6-8 months to resolve those that are not yet under contract. And that’s under the extremely unrealistic assumption that not a single new short sale is listed in the next year or so. Rentals are showing small signs of a slowdown, but we still have less than 3 months worth of inventory so I’m not worried.
The News: Mortgage rates are down again, now at 3.99%. However, that’s the 30 year fixed rate, and many buyers who can are choosing the 15 year mortgage — which pays off faster and builds equity faster. Low rates plus lower prices means a typical mortgage payment for a home purchased now can be 40% lower than one purchased in 2006!
Nationwide, foreclosure starts are up as lenders and servicers want to address the big backlog of delinquent loans. However, that’s not quite true in Las Vegas! We’ve lost our crown as Foreclosure Capital of the Nation — for the time being — on the heels of AB 284, “a law requiring lenders to sign and have notarized an affidavit explaining why they had a legal right to take a property.” Why robosigners are afraid to forge and sign yet one more bit of paper, I couldn’t explain, and no I don’t think they’ve gone away. We’ve had roughly 100,000 foreclosures in the last 4 years — that’s 1 in 5 houses — some experts expect us to have another 100,000 before all is said and done. [Disclaimer: Larry Murphy presented these figures personally in our office this week; he thinks AB284 will result in more judicial foreclosures].
The foreclosure fraud settlement is indeed back from the dead, in a form that doesn’t particularly do a thing to help homeowners, enforce the law, or impose more than a good scolding for breaking the law (and the economy). But even if your elected officials roll over on it (Senate, House, White House), there’s a good chance that some judges may be willing to hold fraudsters’ feet to the fire. After all, federal judges don’t face re-election campaigns so they don’t need campaign money!
And one piece of very good news: CNN published a cautiously optimistic item this week suggesting that Vegas might be ready for a real estate comeback. This is in line with what Larry Murphy of Salestraq has been saying (yes, the same fellow from 2 paragraphs ago): “smart money is buying a home in Las Vegas today. You’ll look like a genius in five years.”
Available Listings: There are 10998 single family homes (down), with a median price of $138,000 (unchanged), $72 per square foot (unchanged). In addition, there are 1169 condominiums (down), with a median price of $54,900 (up), $53 per square foot (unchanged) and 749 townhomes (down) with a median price of $80,000 (unchanged), $61 per square foot (up).
Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 5811 short sales (down) and 2647 bank-owned properties (up). Median price for a short sale is $109,925 (down); median price on a bank-owned home is $104,800 (up). All short sale listings should be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 4460 non-distressed properties for sale (down) had a median price of $179,900 (unchanged). While many of the non-distressed properties are traditional sellers, many others were purchased fairly recently as short sale or bank owned, and then renovated by investors.
Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 486 under $50,000; 2985 between $50,000-$100,000; 4576 between $100,000-$200,000; 2062 between $200,000-$400,000; 525 between $400,000-$700,000; 195 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 319 over $1,000,000.
Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 685 under $50,000; 863 between $50,000-$100,000; 310 between $100,000-$200,000; 69 between $200,000-$400,000; 20 between $400,000-$700,000; 0 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 2 over $1,000,000. For technical reasons, these figures do not include high-rise communities.
Contingent and Pending Listings: Of the 13209 properties in the process of being purchased (down), 11057 are single family homes with median price of $121,500 (down); 1348 are condominiums with median price of $50,000 (unchanged); 804 are townhomes with a median price of $71,450 (down). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of the total, 8541 are short sale, 3073 are foreclosed, and 1595 are traditional sales. While the bank-owned and traditional sales are likely to close within 30-45 days, no time frame is available for unapproved short sales.
Recently Sold: 687 properties closed this week, 3990 in the last 30 days, and 40378 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 45 days (up). Median sales price was $109,900 (up); median list price was $110,000 (up). For single family homes, median sales price was $122,000 (down), for condos $50,000 (unchanged), and for townhomes $74,950 (up). Short sales accounted for 1028 of the total, there were 1907 bank owned properties, and 1055 non-distressed sales.
Rentals: 5694 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system (up). Median square footage of these units is 1490 and median rent is $1100. There are 847 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2385 leases signed in the last 30 days (down) with median rent of $1095 (down) and median square footage of 1525.
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.
