Home prices rise more gradually than earlier in year

A recent Las Vegas Realtors report shows local home prices continuing to set records, although they are rising more gradually than earlier this year.

LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during October was $410,000. The median home price is up 20.5 percent from $340,200 one year ago. That tops the record high set the previous month by 0.9 percent.

The median price of local condos and town homes sold in October was $236,000. That’s also an all-time record and up 26.5 percent from $186,500 in October of 2020.

“Our home prices are still increasing, but they’re going up more gradually,” said LVR President Aldo Martinez, a longtime local Realtor. “Even though we’re slowing down a bit, home prices are still rising. Buyers looking for more affordable options have been turning to condominiums and town homes, as witnessed by the median condo price of $236,000. As we’ve been saying for some time, the rate of appreciation we’ve seen this year is great for homeowners, and the low interest rates have been great for homebuyers.”

Meanwhile, the local housing supply remains tight, causing homes to sell faster than they were last year. Martinez said the current sales pace equates to a roughly one-month supply of properties available for sale.

By the end of October, LVR reported 3,287 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 27 percent from the same time last year. The 583 condos and town homes listed without offers in October represent a 7.2 percent decrease from one year ago.

LVR reported a total of 3,882 existing local homes, condos and town homes sold during October. Compared to one year ago, October sales were down 4.6 percent for homes, but up 9.4 percent for condos and town homes.

As for other trends, Martinez said the high end of the local housing market continues to outperform the overall market. In fact, he said 2021 is setting new benchmarks for sales of homes priced over $1 million, with more than 1,300 sales so far this year, more than doubling 2020 and tripling 2018.

The local housing market has been rebounding steadily for nearly a decade since hitting its post-recession bottom in early 2012.

Since the pandemic, Martinez said Southern Nevada has generally followed national trends, with a shortage of homes available for sale, strong demand and historically low mortgage interest rates paving the path to record home prices.

Martinez added that “builders have not been able to keep up with population growth and demand in recent years, and this has added to our supply issue, leading to higher home prices.” Still, he predicts “a stable 2022.”

During October, LVR reported that 29.6 percent of all local property sales were purchased with cash. That’s up from 19.2 percent one year ago.

While that percentage has been increasing lately, it’s still below the March 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5 percent.

With government-imposed restrictions on evictions and foreclosures, the number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 0.3 percent of all existing local property sales in October. That compares to 0.9 percent of all sales one year ago, 2.4 percent of all sales two years ago, 3 percent, three years ago and 5.2 percent, four years ago.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of October 2021. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not account for all newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners.

Other highlights include:

The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during October was more than $1.5 billion for homes and nearly $204 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes.

Compared to one year ago, total sales values in October were up 13.5 percent for homes and up 37 percent for condos and town homes.

Homes have been selling faster this year than in previous years. In October, 92.6 percent of all existing local homes and 94.9 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 85.4 percent of all existing local homes and 81.4 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days.

Las Vegas Realtors (formerly known as GLVAR) was founded in 1947 and provides its more than 17,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of Realtors, LVR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. Each member receives the highest level of professional training and must abide by a strict code of ethics. For more information, visit LasVegasRealtor.com.