Las Vegas housing numbers for August

[Richard Warren]

The August home sales numbers were released for the Las Vegas market. It just shows that you can massage data to give you the number you want. Agents will probably be touting the statistic that shows the median new home price increasing by 4% from last August to $338,560. However sales fell by 39.9%, how could the price go up with sharply falling sales? Easy, luxury high rises are being completed and sales are closing escrow. A good percentage of these buyers are using them as second homes and these condos have a median price of $645,353. These high rise sales didn’t exist last August and they are pushing the median price up.

A better indicator of the market would be the resale segment. Resales are down 43.4% from a year ago and the median price has dropped 5% to $275,000.

To keep things in perspective, the median price of resales has increased 110% since 2000 and 25% since 2004.

Another major factor in Nevada is a new law that is scheduled to take effect October 1st (AB440) which will make it almost impossible for lenders to offer stated income loans. Many local lenders have already taken these loans off the table.

Interesting times, for sure.

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