Builders sell fewer homes, land record-high prices in Southern Nevada

Las Vegas homebuilders notched a month-to-month boost in sales but are still landing fewer buyers than they did a year ago, a new report shows.

Builders logged 897 net sales — newly signed contracts minus cancellations — in Southern Nevada in May, up 17 percent from April but down 30 percent from May 2024, according to Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research.

Construction plans also have slid from year-ago levels, as builders pulled 1,078 new-home permits in May, down 17 percent from the same month in 2024.

Overall, builders closed 831 home sales last month, down 21 percent from a year earlier, and their buyers paid record prices.

The median closing price of newly built homes last month was $531,890, an all-time high and up 8 percent from a year earlier, Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith reported.

Within that, single-family houses — builders’ best-selling product in Southern Nevada — sold last month for a median of $582,372, also a record high and up 11 percent from a year earlier.

After a buyer signs a sales contract with a builder, it can take several months before construction of the house is finished and the sale closes.

Home construction across the U.S. has slowed from year-ago levels, in no small part due to elevated mortgage rates that have made it more difficult for many would-be buyers to afford a place.

Last month, builders’ pace of starting construction on single-family homes nationwide ticked up 0.4 percent from April but was down 7.3 percent from May 2024, according to federal data.

Buyers are “increasingly moving to the sidelines,” and a growing tally of builders are looking to cut prices to land more buyers, said Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, in a recent statement.

The association said the use of price incentives “increased sharply” this month, with more than one-third of builders saying in a survey that they cut prices in June, the highest percentage since the trade group started tracking this figure on a monthly basis in 2022.

All told, it’s been a “disappointing spring housing market,” according to Robert Dietz, the association’s chief economist.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.