The median sales price of a single-family home in Las Vegas continues to rise, if only slightly, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
The price reached a record $312,500 in December. That's up less than 1 percent from November, when the median price was $310,000.
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Prices have jumped 13.6 percent compared with December 2004.
The number of homes sold in December was down 0.2 percent from November for single-family homes and down 2.3 percent for condos and townhomes.
The statistics are based on records from the Multiple Listing Service and do not account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders and other transactions not involving a Realtor.
Linda Rheinberger, president of the Realtors' association, said the numbers reflect seasonal trends such as fewer people moving during November and December.
Las Vegas is still proving to be a strong and stable housing market, especially during a month that is traditionally a slow period for buying and selling homes, she said.
Nationally, housing is showing signs of a slowdown, but that's not necessarily bad news for the industry, a panel of housing and mortgage finance chief economists said in Thursday conference call.
"Housing activity is expected to slow in 2006, while home price gains slow sharply, in response to a pullback in investor activity and higher mortgage rates," Fannie Mae Chief Economist David Berson said. "Investor demand is always more volatile than other housing demand. It looks like they're starting to pull out. There's a reduced appetite for investors."
Investors who used interest-only loans and creative financing options such as adjustable-rate mortgages may find themselves "upside down" on their homes, incurring negative cash flow, National Association of Realtors chief economist David Lereah said.
"Investor activity is by far, in my view, the biggest risk for the housing sector to face this year," he said. "We're in uncharted territory there."
After topping 16,000 in October 2004, the number of Las Vegas homes on the Multiple Listing Service continued its downward slide in December, dropping 9.2 percent to 13,378 single-family homes.
Robert Lee, an investment portfolio manager for Wells Fargo in California, said he wanted to get away from "crazy" Southern California and take advantage of cheaper housing prices in Las Vegas. So he bought a home near the South Coast for $400,000 and put $35,000 in upgrades into it.
Things didn't work out with his job transfer, so he's putting the 2,900-square-foot home up for sale at $520,000.
"I don't know if I'm being too optimistic," Lee said.
For condos and townhomes, the median local sales price in December was $204,000, up 1.5 percent from the previous month and up 20 percent from one year ago. Listings are down 4.1 percent to 2,596 units.
