Las Vegas new-home sales tumble
New-home sales declined 44 percent from a year ago to just 267 in April and are on pace to barely break 3,000 for the year, research firm SalesTraq reported Monday.
It would be the lowest number that SalesTraq President Larry Murphy said he could remember in more than 30 years. Last year's total was 5,438, down from a peak of 38,705 in 2005.
The new-home median price dropped to $189,099, a 7.5 percent decrease from a year ago. The average price per square foot of $91.17 is down 12.4 percent.
Murphy said he found 14 new homes in one subdivision sold to a single investor for cash at $140,000 each. In looking at all 267 sales during the month, he also found that some of the homes were built from 2006 to 2009 and never sold.
"After three years, builders are saying, 'Let's drop the prices and get them off the books.' New-home sales are few and far between right now," Murphy said.
The resale market is taking off with 4,970 sales in April, a 13.8 percent increase from the same month a year ago. That's on the heels of more than 5,000 sales in March.
Median resale price, however, continued to drop to $106,900 in April, down 14.5 percent from a year ago and a step closer to the $100,000 mark that Murphy predicted as a possibility earlier this year.
About 50 percent of homes were purchased with cash and 78 percent were vacant, SalesTraq reported.
"We've been saying that for 18 months and it's still true and prices are still dropping," Murphy said.
SalesTraq showed 822 short sales, or lender-approved sales for less than the mortgage owed, at an average price of $120,000; 785 trustee auction sales at an average of $90,000; 1,973 bank-owned sales at an average of $105,000; and 1,390 nondistressed home sales at an average of $110,000.
Builders pulled 313 permits during the month, a 34 percent decrease from April 2010.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
