LVR reports local home prices leveling off

Local home prices leveled off last month, with more homes available for sale and fewer changing hands than a year ago. So says a recent report released by Las Vegas Realtors.

LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during February was $424,995. That’s nearly identical to the previous month but down 5.6 percent from $450,000 in February 2022. It’s also down from the all-time record price of $482,000 in May 2022.

The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in February was $255,000, the same as it was in January. That’s down 1.9 percent from $260,000 in February of 2022, and down from the all-time record price of $285,000 in May.

“The local housing market is much more balanced now than it has been in recent years,” said 2023 LVR President Lee Barrett, a longtime local Realtor. “Instead of sellers having the advantage, buyers are now in a better position since prices have stabilized and we have more homes on the market. We’ve now seen two straight months of stable home prices. It also was encouraging to see sales increase from January to February, while new listings continue to decline. Even with mortgage interest rates reaching 7 percent recently, this shows a strong underlying interest in owning a home here in Southern Nevada.”

By the end of February, LVR reported 4,665 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That is up 167.9 percent from the same time last year. And the 1,155 condos and townhomes listed without offers in February represent a 265.5 percent jump from one year earlier.

As for sales, LVR reported a total of 2,172 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in February. Compared with February 2022, sales were down 31.5 percent for homes and down 32.7 percent for condos and townhomes.

The sales pace in February equates to nearly a three-month supply of properties available for sale. Last year at this time, Southern Nevada was facing a housing shortage and had less than a one-month supply.

A year ago, Southern Nevada was coming off a record year for existing home sales, with 50,010 homes, condos, townhomes and other residential properties selling during 2021. That was the first time LVR reported more than 50,000 local properties selling in a year. It topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales. By comparison, LVR reported 35,584 total sales during 2022.

During February, LVR found that 27.1 percent of all local property sales were bought with cash. That’s nearly identical to the previous month and down from 30 percent one year ago. It’s also well below the March 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5 percent.

The number of distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.2 percent of all existing local property sales in February. That compares with 0.4 percent of all sales one year ago, 0.6 percent two years ago, 2.5 percent three years ago, 2.6 percent four years ago and 3.8 percent five years ago.

The LVR statistics include activity through the end of February. 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 February was more than $852 million for homes and more than $121 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared with a year ago, total sales values in February were down 36.5 percent for homes and down 36.2 percent for condos and townhomes.

■ In February, 61 percent of all existing local homes and 68.9 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That is down from one year earlier, when 88.6 percent of all existing local homes and 93.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes 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.