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GLVAR report shows 18-month run of rising home prices
LAS VEGAS – An 18-month run of rising local home prices showed no signs of slowing down in July, according to statistics released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®(GLVAR).
“Local home prices have been going up since February of 2012 and are now rising faster than anyplace else in the country,” said GLVAR President Dave Tina, a longtime local REALTOR®. “Looking back, the median price of an existing single-family home sold here in Southern Nevada bottomed out at $118,000 in January of 2012. Now it’s up to $180,000. We keep expecting these price increases to slow down at some point, but it hasn’t happened yet.
The median price of an existing single-family home sold in Southern Nevada during July was $180,000, up 2.9 percent from $175,000 in June and up 35.3 percent from $133,000 one year ago. Even with this recent appreciation, Tina pointed out that “home prices still have a long way to go to catch up to where they were during our peak,” when the median local home price hit $315,000 in June 2006.
Meanwhile, the median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in July was $91,500, up 6.4 percent from $86,000 in June and up 37.6 percent from $66,500 one year ago.
Like last month, Tina welcomed a modest increase in the number of homes listed for sale, though he said the local housing supply is still far too tight to meet demand. GLVAR has also been tracking an increasing number of homes sold by “traditional” sellers – as opposed to lenders, who are responsible for the short sales and foreclosures that dominated the market a few years ago. In July, Tina said “traditional” sales accounted for a recent high of 64 percent of all local home sales.
As in past months, GLVAR has also been reporting fewer foreclosures and short sales – which occur when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage.
In July, 28.0 percent of all existing home sales were short sales, down from 31.0 percent in June. Another 8.0 percent of all July sales were bank-owned properties, down from 9.0 percent of all sales in June. The remaining 64 percent of all sales were the traditional type, up from 60 percent in June.
Tina expects short sales to continue being a factor in the local housing market this year, primarily because the federal Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is set to expire Dec. 31, 2013. Barring any further extensions, any amount of money a bank writes off in agreeing to sell a home as part of a short sale starting in 2014 may become taxable when sellers file their income taxes.
GLVAR said the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in July was 3,633. That’s down slightly from 3,642 in June, but up from 3,572 total sales in July 2012. Compared to June, single-family home sales during July decreased by 0.7 percent, while sales of condos and townhomes increased by 1.9 percent. Compared to one year ago, single-family home sales were up 1.8 percent, while condo and townhome sales were up 1.3 percent.
The total number of properties listed for sale on GLVAR’s Multiple Listing Service increased in July, with 14,133 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of the month. That’s up 2.8 percent from 13,750 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of June, but down 16.6 percent from last year. GLVAR reported a total of 3,479 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS in July, up 0.9 percent from 3,448 listed in June, but down 7.4 percent from one year ago.
GLVAR also reported more available homes listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer. By the end of July, GLVAR reported 4,681 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That’s up 22.3 percent from 3,828 such homes listed in June and up 9.0 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,609 properties listed without offers in July represented a 9.9 increase from 1,464 such properties listed in June and a 31.5 percent increase from one year ago.
In July, GLVAR reported that 54.5 percent of all existing local homes sold were purchased with cash. That’s down from 55.3 percent in June and down from the peak of 59.5 percent set in February. Since 2011, cash buyers have accounted for more than half of all existing local home sales.
The median price of bank-owned homes sold in July was $172,950, up from $163,750 in June. The median price of homes sold as part of a short sale in July was $149,000, up from $145,600 in June.
These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of July 2013. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or for sale by owners. Other highlights include:
- The monthly value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during July decreased by 0.7 percent for homes to nearly $649 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all sales in July was more than $110 million, up 21.4 percent from June. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in July were up 31.0 percent for homes and up 70.0 percent for condos and townhomes.
- In July, 77.9 percent of all local homes and 76.3 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to June, when 76.6 percent of all local homes and 71.6 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.
