Las Vegas home sales dip, but prices inch upward

A view of a neighborhood with three-story homes in Las Vegas, April 4, 2013.

Despite a slowdown in sales, Las Vegas used-home prices inched past the $200,000 mark last month.

The median price of single-family homes sold in September through the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors’ listing service was $202,500, up 1.3 percent from August and 12.5 percent from a year ago, according to a new report by the group.

A total of 2,380 single-family homes sold last month, down 11 percent from September 2013, the GLVAR reported.

The GLVAR largely has previously owned homes on its listing service.

A year or so ago, Las Vegas housing prices were skyrocketing about 30 percent year-over-year each month, but the market has cooled considerably. The slowdown comes as investors, who bought cheap homes in bulk to turn into rentals after the recession hit, purchase fewer houses, and as more homes valleywide get ignored by potential buyers.

“Our market is entering a more stable time,” GLVAR President Heidi Kasama said in the report.

Buyers paid cash for 34 percent of the homes that sold last month, up from 32 percent in August but well below the peak of almost 60 percent in February 2013, the GLVAR reported. That indicates a steep drop in investor spending.

As investors pull back, more homes are being left on the table.

About 8,200 single-family homes were up for sale without offers by the end of September, up almost 30 percent from a year earlier.

Real Estate

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