Las Vegas house prices exceed $400K for first time

Las Vegas’ resale housing prices shot past $400,000 for the first time last month, raising concerns that many locals might get priced out as home values keep setting new all-time highs.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes — the bulk of the market — was $405,000 in July, up 2.5 percent from the previous record high, set in June, and 22.7 percent from July of last year, according to a new report from trade association Las Vegas Realtors.

Buyers picked up 3,352 houses last month, down 5.4 percent from June though up a slight 0.8 percent from the sales tally in July 2020.

Meanwhile, the inventory of available homes soared from the prior month but overall remained low.

A total of 3,007 houses were on the market without offers at the end of July, up 22.5 percent from June but down 37.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the association.

LVR reports data from its resale-heavy listing service.

Southern Nevada’s housing market has seen record-high prices and rapid sales for months, thanks largely to cheap borrowing costs that have let buyers stretch their budgets. House hunters have flooded properties with offers and routinely paid over the asking price, and homebuilders have regularly raised prices, put buyers on waiting lists and taken bids for lots, multiple sources have said.

Besides low borrowing costs, the market has been fueled by an influx of buyers from more expensive markets.

Las Vegas has seen more out-of-state buyers than usual during the pandemic, especially from California, as many people who are working remotely have left high-priced regions to live in larger homes in less expensive areas such as Southern Nevada.

Las Vegas Realtors President Aldo Martinez said in a news release that he expected local home prices to surpass $400,000 this summer and that “the median affordable price for Southern Nevadans may soon be out of reach.”

Home prices are rising faster than incomes in the Las Vegas area, and that “seems unsustainable over the long term,” said Martinez, a branch manager with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Nevada Properties.

“Even with mortgage interest rates near all-time lows, we know it’s getting difficult for first-time buyers and working-class families to afford a home,” he said.

He added that many buyers are turning to condos and town homes, which tend to be less expensive than single-family houses, while others will have to rent “because they’re no longer able to purchase at these prices.”

Realty One Group agent Michelle Hardy-Rodriguez said recently that she works with a lot of first-time buyers. Many of them work in Las Vegas’ tourism industry, and plenty are getting priced out of the market, she indicated.

“They can’t compete with the rising costs,” she said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.