Homeowners have seen sales soaring in several communities in the Las Vegas Valley this year, making them one of the top spots nationwide for buyers looking to build a new home.
But affordability is likely to be a “key issue” in the US as prices soar, a new report said.
Builders posted 962 net sales – newly signed contracts less cancellations – in Summerlin in the first half of the year, 50 percent more than in 2020, real estate consultancy RCLCO reported on Monday.
This year’s sales record in Summerlin, which spans 22,500 acres along the western edge of the valley, was the third highest among U.S. master plan communities.
Valley Vista in north Las Vegas was ranked sixth nationwide with 506 new home sales through mid-2021, up 7 percent year over year.
Cadence in Henderson was ranked 12th nationwide with 440 sales, 24 percent more than the same period last year, and Skye Canyon in the Upper Northwest Valley was 22nd with 375 sales, an increase of 36 percent year-over-year to RCLCO.
Southern Nevada’s communities consistently rank among the top 50 property sellers in the country because the area has land to build and attracts a steady stream of new residents, particularly from neighboring California.
But the big leaps in sales in certain areas this year underscore just how much the Las Vegas housing market has accelerated during the pandemic.
Fueled in large part by cheap borrowing costs, people of southern Nevada have been on a home buying frenzy for about a year, despite the huge job losses caused by the coronavirus outbreak. On the resale side, homebuyers have showered properties with offers, average sales prices hit virtually all-time highs every month, and homes are selling fast.
At the same time, local builders have regularly raised prices, placed buyers on waiting lists, accepted bids for land, and raised record dollar amounts from buyers.
Among the completed deals in southern Nevada, the average sales price for new single-family homes in May was $ 422,954, an all-time high, according to Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research, which found the average price had increased for five straight months .
In the midst of the early chaos of the pandemic, Las Vegas home sales fell sharply and cancellations skyrocketed before the market recovered and entered a hot phase.
Everywhere in the USA we are experiencing challenges today that are the diametrical opposite of early 2020, ”wrote RCLCO Managing Director Gregg Logan and Vice President Karl Pischke in their report on Monday.
Demand for newly built homes has “only accelerated” but has been met with a shortage of homes for sale and the materials needed to build them, according to the report.
Home builders are burning through lots in many communities, sometimes capping monthly sales “to ensure that existing customer needs can be met,” the authors wrote.
All in all, the combination of strong buyer demand, limited supply and rising material costs has resulted in “significant rises” in new home prices, making housing affordability likely to be a “key issue” in the future, the report said.
The authors anticipate that current supply chain constraints will be resolved in the next year or two, although “it remains unclear how much” rising property prices will affect sales in the country’s top-selling communities.
In southern Nevada, home sales declined for several months during the normally busy spring sales season.
Home Builders Research reported home builders reported 1,085 net sales in May, the second straight month-to-month decline and the lowest number this year.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
