Why Las Vegas is leading the country in new home listings

A new report from Redfin found that year over year up through the end of August, new listings rose most in the Las Vegas metro (12.8 percent), beating out San Diego (11.7 percent) and Sacramento (9.5 percent). New listings fell the most in Atlanta (-19.4 percent).

Las Vegas Realtors President Merri Perry said Las Vegas’ growth is tangible, with the success of professional sports teams as well as the relocation of the Athletics and planned projects such as a Sony movie studio in Summerlin.

“Everyone is coming here,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of cash buyers come in, and a lot of Californians are coming because prices are so high they can sell their property and pay cash here and have a big nest egg because everything in Las Vegas is cheaper.”

Approximately 158,000 people relocated to Nevada from California from 2020 through 2023, making up 43 percent of all new residents to the Silver State during the past four years, according to data from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles.

‘Sellers are popping up’

Shay Stein, a Las Vegas-based real estate agent with Redfin, said she can only speculate as to why the valley is leading the country in new residential listings, however did offer some potential driving factors.

“Las Vegas has a transience by nature, so I am not surprised that with the lower interest rates homeowners are jumping on the opportunity to possibly sell and either move out or buy the home they have been waiting for,” she said. “Since the interest rates started going up a few years ago and the market constricted, there has been a pent-up demand of homeowners who want to sell, but don’t want to give up their 3 to 4 percent mortgages.”

Mike Roland, a Las Vegas-based real estate agent, said he’s definitely seen a change in the market lately.

“The sellers are popping up all over, said Roland, who runs the Roland Team at Platinum Real Estate in Henderson. “Seems like the market might be shifting pretty rapidly, which is welcome since we desperately need the inventory.”

Las Vegas finds itself in the middle of a housing crisis as home prices are close to all-time highs, rents continue to remain elevated from pre-pandemic levels and the average income can’t afford the average mortgage in the valley anymore. Private developers are blaming the federal government and Southern Nevada’s Bureau of Land Management for not releasing land in a timely manner, and the BLM has blamed private developers for not wanting to build affordable housing.

Redfin also reported that sales of existing homes across the U.S. dropped 1 percent year over year through the end of August, the lowest level since 2012 with the exception of May 2020 when “the pandemic brought the housing market to a standstill.”

Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.