For more
The slowdown in Las Vegas' housing market is poised to continue next year, a new report says, as investors keep pulling back from the valley.
The median price of single-family homes sold through the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors’ listing service in November was $202,000, up 1.1 percent from October and 10.4 percent from a year ago, according to a new report from the group.
Prices were up despite a drop in sales volume, as real estate agents are selling more homes in higher price ranges, according to GLVAR President Heidi Kasama. Overall, owners sold about 2,000 houses through the GLVAR’s listing service last month, down 12.8 percent from October and 7.7 percent from November 2013.
The listing service is mostly comprised of previously owned homes.
As Kasama sees it, the slowing sales totals and price jumps will likely persist.
“Our local housing market has been fairly stable this year,” Kasama said in a news release. “Unless something dramatic happens in the coming months, we expect to see more of the same in 2015.”
Investors poured into Las Vegas after the economy collapsed to buy cheap homes in bulk to turn into rentals. They resurrected the industry, with home prices soaring at one of the fastest rates nationally last year, usually 25-30 percent year-over-year any given month.
But with fewer bargains out there, investors have been cutting back. Buyers paid cash for 32 percent of the homes that sold last month, down from a peak of about 60 percent in February 2013, according to the GLVAR.
Now, business is slowing valleywide. More listings are being ignored, sales volume is falling and prices aren’t climbing nearly as fast.
By November’s end, about 8,200 single-family homes were listed for sale but without offers, down 7.7 percent from October but up 20 percent from a year ago.
That’s partly because of the investor pullback but also because homeowners, emboldened by fast-rising property values the past few years, are overpricing, agents say.
The median listing price of single-family homes without offers was $249,500 in November — 23.5 percent higher than what the typical house sold for last month, according to GLVAR data.