Property prices in southern Nevada rose to record levels last month when an industry group said the market was “beginning to stabilize” after a prolonged acceleration.
According to a new report from the Las Vegas Realtors trade association, the average retail price of previously owned single-family homes – most of the market – was a record $ 406,500 in September, up 0.4 percent from August and 20.5 percent from September last year.
Buyers bought 3,209 homes last month, virtually unchanged from August but 1.9 percent fewer than in September 2020.
Meanwhile, the number of Las Vegas homes for sale rose last month but remained well below last year’s levels.
The association reported that at the end of September there were 3,463 single-family homes with no offers on the market, 6.4 percent more than in August, but 27.8 percent less than the previous year.
The housing group is reporting data from their resale-strong listing service.
Despite the huge job losses sparked by the coronavirus pandemic, the housing market in southern Nevada has accelerated in the last year or so with rapid sales and record high prices, largely thanks to the lowest mortgage rates that have allowed buyers to stretch their budgets.
House seekers have inundated properties with offers and routinely exceeded asking prices, while home builders have placed buyers on waiting lists, regularly raised prices, bid on lots and in some cases drawn names to determine who can buy an apartment.
All in all, prices in the resale market have climbed to new all-time highs practically every month this year, with the median rising a little more than $ 100,000 since January 2020 – a staggering 33 percent increase in less than two years.
It was getting harder and harder to buy a home in southern Nevada, it was getting more expensive and, as some said, more and more unaffordable. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, more buyers than usual in the valley have looked for houses in rural, less expensive Pahrump, which is about 100 kilometers away.
Buyers showed signs of pulling back during the normally busy spring buying season before sales picked up again. According to Las Vegas Realtors, the latest report now shows that the market is “beginning to stabilize even as property prices hit another record”.
Aldo Martinez, the association’s president, said in a press release that prices are still rising, but “more gradually than in previous months”.
He added that Southern Nevada “could revert to the kind of seasonal trends we were used to before the pandemic,” as prices and sales “typically peak in summer and slow down a bit in fall and winter before returning rise the spring. “
The association also said that the supply of available housing in Las Vegas is still scarce, but “has stopped shrinking in the past few months at least”. September was the eighth month in a row with rising inventories, it said.
In addition, houses are still trading fast, but the speed of selling has slowed.
Of the single-family homes sold last month, 83.8 percent had been on the market for 30 days or less, according to LVR data, up from 87.8 percent in August and 89.1 percent in July.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
