Las Vegas housing prices are approaching $200,000 again, after yet another month of gains.
The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes in Southern Nevada last month was $195,000, up 2.6 percent from February and 21.1 percent from March 2013, according to a new report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
Prices have been climbing at one of the fastest rates in the country as investors, looking to capitalize on the housing crash, bought cheap homes in bulk to turn into rentals.
So far, used-home prices have jumped 65 percent since hitting bottom at $118,000 in January 2012, but they remain far below the local peak of $315,000 in June 2006, during the bubble.
Inventory is ticking higher, with 13,944 single-family homes up for sale on the GLVAR’s listing service in March, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier.
Moreover, a rising number of sellers, perhaps emboldened by the market’s meteoric rise from the trash heap of the recession, still appear to be asking too much for their homes.
By the end of March, 6,470 single-family homes were listed for sale without any sort of offer attached to them, more than double the number of such homes a year earlier, the GLVAR reported.
Last month, the median listing price of such homes was $245,000, up 4.3 percent from a year earlier.