What does coronavirus mean for Las Vegas housing?

Sin City has especially felt the blow of the lockdown the past couple of months. But what does that mean for the housing market? I sat down with former Las Vegas-performer-turned-Realtor Konrad Broock to find some answers.

Q: How has the Las Vegas market has been affected by this pandemic?

A: This has definitely affected everyone. The Strip is closed right now (It will reopen Thursday.), and being an entertainment city, it has definitely affected our workforce. That being said, before this happened, we were thriving in the real estate world. We had just hit our peak of the highest single-family homes being sold for an average of $319,000. Additionally, we were really in a housing shortage before this happened. It was just an extreme sellers’ market and it was tough to get into homes as there were constant multiple offers and bidding wars.

With that in mind, I can see inventory going up slowly, and with a still strong demand for homes by buyers, we can really start to see the market evening out; making it a win-win for both buyers and sellers.

Q: Do you see it being as bad as the 2008 crash?

A: No, this is definitely not as bad, nor the same as the 2008 crash and this is for a few reasons.

First, we had a lot of inventory back then; close to six months of availability. Prices were going up and so was inventory. That’s not what’s happening right now. What we are facing is not inherently economic. It is a virus and, hopefully, with enough testing and a vaccine, we will be fine.

Q: What trends do you see in the market, and how do they compare to the 2008 crash?

A: People have a lot more equity in their homes today than they did back in 2008. And, in addition to that, a lot of lenders are giving forbearance. Again, this is going to be short-lived. As soon as we get control of it, we’ll be right back where we were.

Q: When do you see the market bouncing back in Las Vegas?

A: Unfortunately, it all depends on our medical industry, as soon as they get control of this thing. I think it’s crucial that we don’t jump the gun on this. It’s great that real estate is an essential business here in Nevada, but we must keep with current guidelines on safety like social distancing and virtual meetings. We can all do virtual open houses and with the use of technology. We can really use the virtual aspect to our advantage.

Q: What kind of effect is this having on yourself and the Realtors in your sphere?

A: We are not necessarily experiencing a dramatic effect, but there are definitely more homes coming on the market than what used to be. We were at such an extreme sellers’ market. We were in a shortage so to even go up a full month of availability, we’d still be at three-months supply, which is still low. So there’s not cause for too much concern.

Victoria Kennedy is the CEO of Atlas Real Estate, a lead-generation agency that provides leads and closings for real estate professionals. Because of her expertise in real estate, she has been featured in over 177 publications and has spoken at the National Association of Real Estate Brokers and Inman Connect. Her website is goatlasrealestate.com.