High-rise expert and developer Paul Murad mingles on Tuesday with Linda Rheinberger of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors before the release of the Las Vegas Perspective during an unveiling event at Orleans Arena. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

Paul Murad is constantly being questioned about his expertise in high-rise luxury condominium development.

He's young -- named to the National Association of Realtors' Top 30 Under 30 list a couple of years ago -- and inexperienced.

Still, he wrote the book, "Manhattanizing Las Vegas," and has his own $200 million, 39-story Gateway Las Vegas condo tower in the works for downtown Las Vegas.

Murad, keynote speaker at Tuesday's Las Vegas Perspective, is an opportunist who has studied high-rise markets around the world, from China to Eastern and Western Europe and Canada and interviewed hundreds of people.

He said Las Vegas is on a parallel with Miami and has just "scratched the surface" in attracting affluent people to town, from wealthy foreigners and baby boomers to retirees and movie stars.

"This first phase of Manhattanizing is over," Murad said. "Now we're entering the second phase. What happened in Las Vegas over the last few years is amazing, going from a couple of high rises to a hundred. That hasn't happened anywhere else in the world."

Signs of a cooling housing market began to emerge last year and unsold inventory has increased for both condos and single-family housing, but Murad said demand for housing in Las Vegas remains strong, although the form of housing is changing.

The trend is toward vertical construction and retail that serves that market, he said.

Steffen Bandilla, a marketing strategist for mid-rise and high-rise developers, said the last couple of years were "crazy."

"It seems like every high-rise and mid-rise that started construction is successful," he said. "Sales is not a problem. It's mostly construction financing. They all have nice beautiful renderings, but they can't find construction financing."

The Las Vegas housing market is becoming one of specialization, said Linda Rheinberger, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and one of about 750 people attending Las Vegas Perspective.

It's not just single-family residential, but low-rise, mid-rise, high-rise and condo conversions, and the builders are getting younger, Rheinberger said.

"You know what it is with a lot of young people? They don't sit there and talk. They do. They don't look for reasons why things can't work. They jump in. They're flexible and they make adjustments along the way so projects are a success," she said, "and they recognize opportunity."

A demographic overview in the 120-page 2006 Las Vegas Perspective book showed a consensus forecast of 4.5 percent population growth for Clark County. Population has grown from slightly more than 1 million in 1995 to 1.81 million in 2005.

Median household income is $47,320, with nearly 20 percent of households making $50,000 to $74,999. The median age of adults is 47.9 years.