Forum zeros in on housing

Jeremy Aguero used clever graphics during his statistical presentation Tuesday at 2007 Las Vegas Perspective to illustrate how things can be different than they appear.

He showed a large dot surrounded by small dots next to a small dot surrounded by large dots. When he took away the outer dots, the center dots were the same size.

"Sometimes, when you remove the noise, things are more in balance than they look," Aguero, principal of the Applied Analysis research firm, said during the 27th annual business event at The Orleans Arena.

Housing affordability has become an issue in Las Vegas, with only about 15 percent of consumers able to afford a home here. Yet home ownership is at an all-time high, near 70 percent, and home owners have gained $20 billion in equity since 2004, Aguero pointed out.

A survey in the 120-page Las Vegas Perspective shows that 45.9 percent of respondents were "very concerned" about growth, while over half agreed that growth is good for Southern Nevada.

"If I'm a real estate agent, that's great. It's different than being an environmentalist. It all depends on your perspective," Aguero said.

Key demographic indicators for 2006 include 5.3 percent population growth to 1.91 million, 12.2 percent increase in median household income to $53,100 and 1.3 percent decline in the share of newcomers from California. A total of 97,000 new residents moved to Las Vegas, up 41.2 percent from 68,700 in 2005.

The top five states of origin are California, Arizona, Florida, Texas and New York.

"We're confronted by newcomers to the valley," Aguero said. "Newcomers make my commute longer. Newcomers make my wait at the hospital longer."

Some see the quality of life eroding in Las Vegas as we struggle with traffic congestion, crime rate, cost of housing and quality of education, Aguero said.

On the other hand, we're improving access to higher education and the arts, building more parks and community centers and leading the nation in the "green building" trend.

"Our public transit isn't New York or San Francisco, but it's grown by leaps and bounds," Aguero said.

Somer Hollingsworth, president and chief executive officer of Nevada Development Authority, talked about the economic diversification of Southern Nevada in biotechnology, telecommunications and renewable energy sources.

"Diversification is happening here like it's never happened before," he said. "Our job is to bring in the highest quality and highest-paying jobs, not $5-an-hour jobs."

In the last year, the authority has attracted 34 new companies to Las Vegas and helped 12 of them expand, adding 2,494 jobs to the economy. The average salary of those jobs is $48,000 to $50,000 a year, Hollingsworth said.

Among his "Sweet 16" reasons for doing business in Las Vegas were the tax structure, energy base, McCarran International Airport, telecommunication infrastructure and the foreign trade zone.