Feeling the ‘Raiders Effect’

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors recently teamed up with UNLV’s Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies to survey its leading brokers to measure their views on the local housing market.

The results of this latest Quarterly Sentiment Index showed that GLVAR members are increasingly optimistic about the housing market in Southern Nevada. In fact, more than nine out of 10 local Realtors said they expect local home prices to keep going up in the next year.

When asked where they thought local home prices were going in the next year, more than 90 percent of those who responded said they expected prices to go up. Less than 10 percent expected prices to stay about the same. None of the local Realtors who responded to the survey expected prices to go down over the course of the next year.

Each quarter since early 2016, Lied Institute researchers have polled a select group of GLVAR members about their expectations for home prices, sales and construction during the next quarter and next year.

“The results of this most recent survey of our members were the most positive findings to date,” said GLVAR President David J. Tina, a longtime local Realtor.

And that was before March 27. As Tina pointed out, that’s when the National Football League voted to allow the Oakland Raiders to move to Las Vegas, where they’re planning to begin playing by the 2020 season in a state-of-the-art domed stadium, to be built west of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, near Russell Road and Interstate 15.

Since this huge announcement, Tina has been asked by GLVAR members, the media and the public about what this Raiders relocation means for Southern Nevada and its housing market.

“While I think it’s still hard to quantify, I believe we’re already seeing what some people have been calling the ‘Raiders Effect,’” he said. “I think the Raiders moving to Las Vegas brings a big boost to our reputation and solidifies our status as a world-class city.”

News about the Raiders and the new stadium for NFL and UNLV football games isn’t the only boost benefiting the Las Vegas area these days. Tina also cited the Vegas Golden Knights, the new National Hockey League team scheduled to begin playing in Las Vegas next fall, along with an improving local economy and job market.

“This is one more attraction and amenity that pushes people over the threshold and convinces some buyers to purchase property here now, rather than waiting on the sidelines,” Tina said. “Let’s call it the icing on the cake.”

Of course, he added, Southern Nevada and its housing market still are facing some challenges. For instance, Tina said he’s concerned about an increasingly tight housing market, which is now hovering around a two-month supply of homes available for sale without any sort of offer on them. A six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market.

Still, GLVAR’s latest housing statistics show more existing local homes being sold this year than last year at median prices about 10 percent higher than they were one year ago.

“I don’t know if it’s the Raiders Effect or not, but I find myself feeling better about the housing market and the local economy,” Tina concluded. “And I think most of our members and most of the homebuyers and sellers we deal with are feeling that way, too.”

GLVAR was founded in 1947 and provides its nearly 13,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of Realtors, GLVAR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. Each GLVAR member receives the highest level of professional training and must abide by a strict code of ethics. For more information, visit LasVegasRealtor.com. Email your real estate questions to communications@glvar.org.