2017 seen as ‘very good year’ for Las Vegas new-home sales

Las Vegas’ growth of new-home sales might slow in coming months, but 2017 should still be seen as a “very good year,” a new report says.

Builders closed 808 new-home sales in Clark County last month, putting the year’s sum at 5,762, up 18.8 percent from the same eight-month period in 2016, according to Home Builders Research.

The median sales price of August’s closings was $342,973, up 9.6 percent year-over-year.

Builders also pulled 803 new-home permits last month, bringing the year’s total to 6,646, up 7 percent from the same period in 2016, Home Builders Research reported.

Las Vegas buyers have paid record prices for new houses this year, although builders’ sales totals remain a fraction of the peaks from the housing bubble of the mid-2000s and even before that in the 1990s.

In their report, Home Builders Research founder Dennis Smith and Vice President Andrew Smith wrote that they expect year-over-year sales growth to soften in coming months. But, they wrote, 2017 should be “remembered as a possible turning point” for the market.

They also said that prices should keep climbing “as long as the robust demand continues,” but indicated that higher mortgage rates could put the brakes on that.

Higher rates lead to bigger borrowing costs and could scare buyers away from pricier homes.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.