LVR report shows local home prices not falling back

A recent Las Vegas Realtors report shows local home prices up slightly from the same time last year, though fewer homes are selling.

LVR reported the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service during October was $449,000. That’s up 2 percent from $440,000 in October 2022. Local home prices are still below the all-time record of $482,000 set in May 2022.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and town homes sold in October was $275,500, up 3.6 percent from $266,000 in October 2022. That’s still down from the all-time high of $287,000 set in August.

LVR President Lee Barrett, a longtime local Realtor, said a tight housing supply and recently rising mortgage interest rates continue to shape the housing market and may be overshadowing seasonal trends.

“We usually see home prices and sales cool down a bit along with the weather as we head into the fall and winter,” Barrett said. “We’ll see how these traditional trends play out this year. Higher interest rates and a smaller housing supply are playing a bigger role than in past years.”

By the end of October, LVR reported 4,213 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 46.7 percent from the same time last year. Likewise, the 1,195 condos and town homes listed without offers in October represent a 32.7 percent decline from one year earlier.

LVR reported a total of 2,173 existing local homes, condos and town homes sold in October. Compared with October 2022, sales were down 1.5 percent for homes but up 1.3 percent for condos and town homes.

The sales pace in October equates to more than a two-month supply of properties available for sale. Last year at this time, Southern Nevada had more than a four-month housing supply.

Fewer homes have been selling this year than during 2022, when LVR reported 35,584 total sales. That followed a record year for existing local home sales in 2021, when LVR reported 50,010 homes, condos, town homes and other residential properties were sold. That was the first time LVR reported more than 50,000 local properties selling in a year. It topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales.

During October, LVR found that 26.6 percent of all local property sales were cash transactions. That’s up from 25.5 percent one year ago. That is well below the May 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5 percent, suggesting that investors have been less active in the local housing market.

The number of distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.4 percent of all existing local property sales in October. That compares with 0.3 percent one year ago, 0.3 percent two years ago, 0.9 percent three years ago, 2.4 percent four years ago and 3 percent five years ago.

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

■ The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during October was nearly $923 million for homes and nearly $144 million for condos, high-rise condos and town homes. Compared with one year earlier, total sales values in October were down 2.2 percent for homes but up 11.2 percent for condos and town homes.

■ In October, 84.5 percent of all existing local homes and 85.4 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days. That compares with one year earlier, when 78.6 percent of all existing local homes and 82.5 percent of all existing local condos and town homes sold within 60 days.

Las Vegas Realtors — formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors — was founded in 1947 and provides its nearly 17,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of Realtors, LVR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. For more information, visit LasVegasRealtor.com.