Southern Nevada home prices warming up while sales cooling down

Local home prices rose again in February, while sales slowed down amid a shrinking housing supply, according to a recent report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

GLVAR reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during February through its Multiple Listing Service was $275,000. That’s up 3.8 percent from January and up 14.6 percent from February 2017. The median price of local condos and town homes sold in February was $150,000, up 27.1 percent from the same time last year.

Meanwhile, the total number of existing local homes, condos and town homes sold during February fell to 2,704. Compared to one year earlier, February sales were down 5.4 percent for homes but up 1.8 percent for condos and town homes.

“Our shrinking housing supply may finally be catching up to us and slowing down our home sales,” said 2018 GLVAR President Chris Bishop, a longtime local Realtor. “Sales have continued to go up over the last few years, even as our inventory has been going down. But with fewer homes on the market each month, it seems like it was only a matter of time before it started to affect sales.”

He said Southern Nevada still has less than a two-month supply of existing homes available for sale, when a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.

By the end of February, GLVAR reported 3,653 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 34.3 percent from one year earlier. For condos and town homes, the 679 properties listed without offers in February represented a 10.4 percent drop from one year earlier. The inventory of condos and town homes listed for sale is as low as it has been since 2004, Bishop added.

February’s sales dip is a departure from the recent trend in home sales, which have been increasing over the past few years. In fact, GLVAR reported that the 46,598 existing local properties sold during 2017 made it the third best sales year on record and the best year for existing local home sales since 2011.

GLVAR reported that 32.4 percent of all local properties sold in February were purchased with cash, compared to 31.4 percent one year earlier. That’s well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active but playing a much smaller role in the local housing market than they were five years ago.

At the same time, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 3.8 percent of all existing local home sales in February, compared to 10.6 percent of all sales one year earlier.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of February 2018. GLVAR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners. Other highlights:

■ The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during February was more than $714 million for homes and nearly $92 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes. Compared to one year earlier, total sales volumes in February were up 15.0 percent for homes and up 24.8 percent for condos and town homes.

■ Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In February, 79.8 percent of all existing local homes and 86.4 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares to February 2017, when 69.6 percent of all existing local homes and 76.5 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days.

GLVAR was founded in 1947 and provides its more than 14,000 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. E-mail your real estate questions to ask@glvar.org.