After the Las Vegas real estate market warmed up last year despite widespread economic problems, it started in 2021 well above the previous year’s level.
The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes – most of the market – was $ 345,000 in January, unchanged from December and November when they hit an all-time high, although prices were up 13.1 percent from January 2020, according to Association Las Vegas Realtors reported.
Sales fell sharply month over month as buyers picked up 2,638 homes in January, down 20.2 percent from December and up 15.5 percent from last January.
The tight inventory of listings in Las Vegas continued to decline, with 2,315 single-family homes on the market with no listings at the end of January. This corresponds to a decrease of 28.5 percent compared to December and 52.8 percent compared to the previous year, reported LVR.
The association obtains data from its resale-intensive listing service.
LVR President Aldo Martinez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties said in a press release that the market “continues to outperform most of us during this pandemic” and that the new numbers “are particularly encouraging considering January it is usually one of the slowest months for home sales and prices. “
Demand is also strong and stocks remain tight nationally.
In the US, sellers “did not step in in January, which took the number of properties for sale to new lows and suggests that our new normal of rising prices and buoyant sales will continue into at least the first half of the year. Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a recent press release.
People thinking of launching this spring “should expect a competitive season,” especially for resale, she added.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused huge job losses, keeping people away from home for fear of infection and destroying the tourism industry, the backbone of the casino-heavy economy in Las Vegas. The property market in southern Nevada was initially hit by turmoil amid the chaos caused by the outbreak, but rebounded and entered a month-long hot phase, thanks in large part to record-low mortgage rates.
The shrinking cost of borrowing allowed home hunters to commit to lower monthly payments and stretch their budgets, sparking an upswing that upset the overall economy.
The unemployment rate in Las Vegas was 10.4 percent in December, the highest in the nation among major metropolitan areas, federal officials recently reported.
That said, home builders made more than 11,000 net sales in southern Nevada last year – newly signed sales contracts minus cancellations – most since 2007, according to figures from Andrew Smith, president of Home Builders Research, the Las Vegas real estate tracker.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
