February housing sales show hints of improvement

It's much too early to declare the housing market is near the bottom, but there were "tiny whiffs of change" in February's statistics, housing consultant Steve Bottfeld of Marketing Solutions said.

As anticipated, median prices fell 38 percent from a year ago on existing homes to $142,500 and fell 21.8 percent on new homes to $220,000, Las Vegas-based research firm SalesTraq reported.

However, sales and inventory showed hints of improvement. Existing home sales increased 70.8 percent to 2,759 in February and available listings dropped to 19,841 from 22,837 a year ago.

It's the first time listings slipped under 20,000 in 26 months and the number represents an 8.4-month supply based on current sales levels, Bottfeld noted.

The number of foreclosures, or real estate-owned homes, declined to 2,205 in February, compared with 2,356 in January. It's still up 87 percent from a year ago.

"All in all, February results are about what was expected. They indicate that the Las Vegas real estate market has not reached a bottom," Bottfeld said. "We expect that May and June data will show improvements reflecting a change in buyer behavior which anecdotal evidence suggests is occurring in the market now."

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.