REAL ESTATE BRIEFS

Valley home prices, sales up

Southern Nevada’s housing supply remained tight while local home prices and sales increased in March compared with one year ago, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported.

GLVAR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during March through its Multiple Listing Service was $220,000.

That was up 7.3 percent from $205,000 one year ago.

Meanwhile, GLVAR said the median price of local condominiums and townhomes, including high-rise condos, sold in March was $118,000. That was up 2.6 percent from $115,000 one year ago.

“The local housing market continues to be as stable as it has been in many years,” said 2016 GLVAR President Scott Beaudry, a longtime local Realtor.

“Local home prices have been hovering around $220,000 for months. On the other hand, we’re still dealing with a very tight housing supply. This tight inventory might be keeping prices up, but it makes it harder for buyers to find the right home for them.”

According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in March was 3,488, up from a strong showing of 3,358 in March of 2015. Compared with the same month one year ago, 2.8 percent more homes and 8.3 percent more condos and townhomes were sold in March.

So far this year, Beaudry said local home sales are ahead of the pace from 2015, when GLVAR reported a total of 38,578 single-family home, condominium, townhome and high-rise condo sales. That was more than in 2014, but fewer sales than during the previous five years.

At the current sales pace, he said Southern Nevada now has less than a three-month supply of homes available for sale; a six-month supply is considered to be a balanced market.

The total number of single-family homes listed for sale on GLVAR’s MLS in March was 13,429, down 0.8 percent from one year ago.

GLVAR tracked a total of 3,572 condos, high-rise condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS in March, down 1.1 percent from one year ago.

By the end of March, GLVAR reported 7,214 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That’s down 0.6 percent from one year ago.

For condos and townhomes, the 2,304 properties listed without offers in March represented a 5.8 percent decrease from one year ago.

GLVAR continued to report declines in distressed sales and a corresponding increase in traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction.

In March, 5.9 percent of all local sales were short sales — when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage.

That’s down from 8.3 percent of all sales one year ago.

Another 7.1 percent of all March sales were bank-owned, down from 9.3 percent one year ago.

The median price of single-family homes sold as part of a short sale in March was $190,750, up from $165,000 one year ago.

The median price of bank-owned homes sold in March was $180,038, up from $163,500 one year ago.

GLVAR said 27.7 percent of all local properties sold in March were purchased with cash, down from 32.4 percent one year ago.

That’s well short of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still more active in Southern Nevada than in most markets, but that their influence continues to wane.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of March 2016. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or for sale by owners.

GreenFest Community Festival to be held at Downtown Summerlin

GreenFest, co-founded by the Green Alliance and Republic Services, celebrates Earth Day 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 23 at Downtown Summerlin.

The event is free and open to the public. Activities include interactive displays, arts and crafts, a marketplace, beer and wine garden, kids zone, pet adoptions, petting zoo, live entertainment and conservation exhibits.

GreenFest also features the Drive Clean Energy Las Vegas procession to include hybrids, electric vehicles, compressed natural gas, electric bikes, e-scooters, fleet, personal and company vehicles. Open and free to participate, vehicle owners can go to GreenFestLV.com/procession to register. Participants will gather at 8 a.m. at Las Vegas Cyclery and proceed to GreenFest at Downtown Summerlin at 9 a.m. arriving at GreenFest to kick off the celebration.

GreenFest was founded in 2010 by Republic Services and Nevada Energy Star Partners Green Alliance, with the vision to educate the community on recycling, environmental topics and services available to enjoy and live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Pinecrest Academy Cadence Campus breaks ground

At an event on March 31, Andre Agassi of the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund and city of Henderson Mayor Andy A. Hafen, along with Pinecrest Academy Principal Jessica LeNeave, and The LandWell Co. CEO Mark Paris, gathered to celebrate the official groundbreaking of the new Pinecrest Academy campus at Cadence, a 2,200-acre master-planned-community in Henderson.

“With the new Pinecrest campus opening this fall, residents at Cadence and others living nearby in Henderson will soon have another solid education option for their children,” said Mark Paris, CEO of Cadence developer The LandWell Co. “This August, we look forward to welcoming the first of many Pinecrest faculty, teachers, families and students to Cadence.”

“Opening a new school in my hometown of Las Vegas is always an incredible feeling,” said Andre Agassi, co-managing partner of the Turner-Agassi Charter Schools Facilities Fund and CEO of Agassi Ventures.

“Schools are an investment in our future and provide opportunities for families to grow and flourish. Pinecrest Cadence in Henderson is an example of a great institution providing students a top-tier education.”

Phase I of the Pinecrest Academy Cadence Campus, a public choice, tuition-free charter school, will open in August 2016, initially enrolling 900 students in kindergarten through ninth grade.

Each subsequent year, the new school will add a year of high school until it reaches grade 12.

The first phase also includes the elementary school’s multipurpose room, with a basketball court and stage, as well as a synthetic turf play. Phase I includes part of the middle and high school complex, including an administration facility for the middle and high schools.

When all phases of construction are complete, the collective campus will boast 201,400 square feet of learning and activity space.