Las Vegas home prices reach yet another record high

Las Vegas’ housing market heated up last month during a typically slower time of year as sales climbed and prices, yet again, set a new all-time high.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes — the bulk of the market — was $420,000 in November. That was up 2.4 percent, or $10,000, from the previous record set in October, and 21.7 percent from November of last year, according to a Tuesday report from trade association Las Vegas Realtors.

Buyers picked up 3,273 houses last month, up 6.4 percent from October and 7.8 percent from November 2020.

At the same time, Southern Nevada’s inventory of available listings shrank.

A total of 2,805 single-family houses were on the market without offers at the end of November, down 14.7 percent from October and 25.3 percent year over year, the association reported.

The group, which pulls data from its resale-heavy listing service, said its report suggests Las Vegas’ market “may be in store for an unseasonably warm winter.”

Southern Nevada’s housing market heated up this year with rapid sales and record prices, thanks largely to rock-bottom mortgage rates that have let buyers stretch their budgets.

Las Vegas has also seen a higher-than-usual tally of out-of-state buyers, including from more expensive markets, as people sought more space amid widespread work-from-home arrangements.

Overall, buyers have showered properties with offers and routinely paid over the asking price, and median sales prices have been setting all-time highs practically every month.

Condos and townhomes, for instance, sold for a record-high median price last month at $240,000, LVR reported.

Meanwhile, homebuilders have put buyers on waiting lists, regularly raised prices and in some cases drawn names to determine who gets to purchase a place amid fierce demand while facing their own supply shortages and higher building costs.

Nonetheless, Las Vegas Realtors President Aldo Martinez agrees with predictions that the housing market could tap the brakes over the next several months amid rising interest rates.

U.S. mortgage rates remain historically low but are up from a year ago. The average rate on a 30-year home loan in October was 3.07 percent, up from 2.83 percent during the same month last year, mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac reported.

“We’re probably looking at more modest growth for 2022,” Martinez said.

Nationally, these are signs that “astronomical house price growth is returning to earth, but the descent will be slow,” Kwame Donaldson, an economist with listing site Zillow, said last week.

As he sees it, price growth will still “comfortably exceed historical averages over the next year.”

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