Las Vegas home sales being canceled at high rate

Home sales across the country are being canceled at elevated rates — and deals in Las Vegas are getting nixed more often than in most metro areas.

Across the U.S., roughly 56,000 home-purchase agreements were canceled in April, amounting to 14.3 percent of homes that went under contract last month, listing site Redfin reported last week.

The cancellation rate was up from 13.5 percent a year earlier, the company said.

Atlanta led the country in canceled sales last month at 20 percent, while Las Vegas ranked 8th at 18.6 percent, according to Redfin.

Overall, the company said buyers are skittish for several reasons, including economic and political uncertainty; increased inventory, which has given house hunters more choices; and sticker shock, as mortgage rates and home prices “remain stubbornly high.”

Mark Baker, a mortgage originator with Cardinal Financial in Las Vegas, said sales are being canceled due to a number of factors.

Among them, some would-be buyers are making offers on homes before they see them in-person and then bail on the deal after they tour the property, he said.

Others make an offer to buy a place that is contingent on them selling their existing home. But they listed their own house for too much money and can’t sell it, so they have to cancel their new purchase, he said.

Additionally, some people bail on buying after digesting just how much their monthly payment will be.

“They knew what the payment was when they made the offer, they’re just having buyer’s remorse,” Baker said.

All told, home prices ticked higher in Southern Nevada last month, but sales totals tumbled and inventory skyrocketed.

Buyers picked up 2,174 previously owned single-family homes in April, down 7.1 percent from the same month last year, and paid a median price of $480,000, up 2.3 percent, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors.

There were also 6,213 houses for sale without any offers at the end of April, up 78.7 percent year over year, the group reported.

Sales of previously owned homes are down across the country, though with its boom-and-bust track record, Las Vegas’ housing market has long been a volatile one.

Southern Nevada has a transient population; a tourism-dependent economy with a history of extreme ups and downs; a history of house flippers and other residential real estate investors, many of whom live out of state; and an exuberance for real estate during good times that can rapidly push up home prices, leaving the market prone to sharp drops in a slowdown.

Las Vegas’ sales cancellation rate, for instance, has been higher than the national average since 2017, the furthest back Redfin’s data went in its new report.

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