Median home prices rise again in valley as sales slow

As they have for most of this year, Las Vegas median home prices rose in November, even as sales slowed heading into the holiday season, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported today .

Real estate agents sold 2,682 single-family homes last month at a median price of $146,000, up 4.3 percent from the previous month and up 16.8 percent from a year ago.

Home prices have climbed or stayed the same in 10 of the past 11 months, GLVAR president Kolleen Kelley noted.

"We haven't seen such steady appreciation in several years, since 2004," she said.

Las Vegans should not expect double-digit, year-over-year increases to be sustained, Kelley said.

"We'll be right back at the glass ceiling we were at before. When the community doesn't earn an income to support high-priced houses, something has to give," she said. "But we're so undervalued now, it's like a pendulum swinging back to the other side."

Single-family home sales were down 10.1 percent from October and down 15.1 percent from a year ago. Home prices and sales typically drop during the winter before rebounding in the spring.

Local statistics show a housing market transitioning from foreclosures to short sales, which occur when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage.

Short sales accounted for 41.2 percent of November sales, down from 44.7 percent in October, but still up from 26.8 percent one year ago.

Foreclosures, meanwhile, made up 10.7 percent of total sales in November, a sharp reversal from the last couple of years when they were roughly half of all sales.

Kelley said short sales may remain high even after Dec. 31, when the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act is set to expire. If Congress does not extend the act, any amount the bank writes off in a short sale will become taxable when sellers file their income taxes.

Realtors are also reporting a steady increase in the number of homes sold by "traditional" owners, as opposed to lenders, who are responsible for the short sales and foreclosures that have dominated the Las Vegas housing market for the past few years.

There were 611 sales of condos and townhomes in November, a 15.6 percent decrease from a year ago, while median prices increased 27.6 percent to $74,000.

Inventory of homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service dwindled to 15,637 in November, down 24.9 percent from the same month a year ago. Of those listings, only 3,849 units are available without a pending or contingent offer, a 60.6 percent drop from a year ago.

GLVAR reported that 52.7 percent of all existing homes sold in November were purchased with cash, a slight drop from 54.1 percent in October.

The median price of bank-owned single-family homes sold in November was $139,001, up from $132,575 in October. The median price of single-family homes sold as a short sale in November was $130,000, up from $127,500 in October.

GLVAR statistics are based on data collected through the MLS, which does not necessarily account for new homes sold by local builders, for sale by owners or other transactions not involving a real estate agent.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.