Future of Highrise Condo market in Las Vegas?

[John M.]

So I am in the process of finding/buying a highrise condo in LV. I have always stayed away from highrises because I thought they were bad investments (limited appreciation, high hoa fees, and selling one can take months if not a year or more). But, I will eventually moving to LV and working remote full time, and since I am single I decided I would rather be in a highrise 247 then be in the suburbs in a SFR by myself. I like the social aspect of a highrise and the amenities and views would make WFH a whole lot better.

One positive about the negatives I just listed above that I have noticed the past 2-3 months of looking, is that with how crazy the real estate market is right now, the high rises do not seem to be participating.  Based on my research although sales are picking up, they are not getting bid up and are still sitting on the market for awhile and selling below list.  So it's easy to get a deal.  I think part of it is the remaining stigma associated with Covid and being around people, which eventually will fade.  So, I was wondering if this might actually be a really good time to buy one as an actual investment?

To my knowledge there are no new residential highrises planned in LV, and I am not even sure if the costs between land and construction to build now would even make it viable. So, it seems what's already been built will be it for now and possibly a very long time. So you have a fast growing city with huge demand for housing, limited inventory, and although highrises have a smaller pool of potential buyers than SFR's, people still need housing and if you can live or rent in a luxury building with all the amenities and security for possibly the same or even less price than an SFR or Townhouse (HOA fees included), why not? Most of the residential highrises in LV were built within the last 12-15 years so they are newer, modern and have amazing amenities and still selling way below their peak, so it seem like based on price per sq ft right now they are a good value and selling at a discount vs the SFR/Townhouse market which are now above their previous peak.

As I said I am planning on living and mine and not rent it out so as long as I am happy there I don't care too much what the market does.  But, it would be nice if I could make some money too.

Compared with other large metro areas which seem overbuilt or at least have a lot of supply vs demand (i.e. Miami, Chicago), Vegas seems like it could be a very good market for potential high rise appreciation in the future because there just aren't that many here.

Any opinions on this topic?  Would be curious to see what others think.