GLVAR best source for housing stats

Q: I see all kinds of statistics on the housing market. With all these statistics floating around out there, which ones do you consider the most relevant to homeowners here in Las Vegas?

-- Tony W., Las Vegas

A: You make a good point in asking this question. I'm with you. It seems like we're being bombarded these days with all sorts of statistics about the housing market. These come from a wide range of local and national sources, from governmental entities to research companies and from real estate firms to professional associations.

If you read as much as I do, you can easily get confused by all this information. This is especially true when you get your information from news reports, which can cite numerous and seemingly contradictory sources from one day to the next.

For my purposes, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors has become a leading source of timely information about the local housing market.

Each month for the past several years, our team at the GLVAR compiles and publicly distributes a variety of statistics on the housing market here in Southern Nevada.

You can find this information at lasvegasrealtor.com. From the home page, click on the link in the upper right corner labeled "e-SNR." That will take you to the online version of the GLVAR's monthly magazine, Southern Nevada Realtor, where you can see all the statistics provided by the association to its members and the public.

Generally speaking, I consider these the most important statistics for me and for local homeowners.

Other analysts and experts may follow other trends or track other statistics more closely, but I think most homeowners tend to focus on the median price of a single-family home here in Southern Nevada and how that price has changed from previous months and years.

As for what these statistics are telling us about the local housing market, I'd say it's a mixed bag, at least so far this year.

(For the latest GLVAR statistics, which cover July, see page E9.)

I think it's encouraging to see that the number of homes sold in Southern Nevada increased for the seventh straight month in July. In fact, we sold almost twice as many homes in July as we did during the same month last year.

On the other hand, we see that the unprecedented number of bank-owned properties being listed and sold here continue to drag down local home prices.

While this may be good news for people looking to buy a home at bargain prices, it can be a challenge for sellers.

The bottom line to all this, of course, is that it's a great time to buy home here in Southern Nevada.

Patty Kelley is the president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and has worked in the real estate industry for more than 30 years. GLVAR has nearly 15,000 members. To ask Kelley a question, e-mail her at ask@glvar.org. For more information, visit www.lasvegasrealtor.com.