GLVAR reports increase in sales, decline in prices

Recent statistics released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors show that sales are up and local home prices decreased for single-family homes sold in January as a result of the high volume of bank-owned property sales.

"We continue to see the impact of short sales and bank-owned properties on our housing market," said GLVAR President Patty Kelley. "Transactions on these types of properties have accelerated due in most part to authorizations from thousands of investment groups, giving the banks approval to liquidate their residential real estate portfolios. These sales accounted for 37.8 percent of the total sales for the month and are the most significant contributor to the drop in the median housing price. This is a temporary fluctuation in the market that may continue to keep prices artificially low for the next couple of months."

A short sale is when a mortgage holder or bank allows a homeowner to sell a home for less than what is owed on the loan, she said.

"The good news is that there are great deals out there for people to buy these bank-owned properties. This is a segment of the market where people can purchase homes at reduced prices, which is ideal for first-time home buyers or people looking to move up," Kelley said.

This month's GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of January. The association releases statistics each month based on data collected through its Multiple Listing Service, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders.

This month's highlights include:

-- The median price of a single-family home sold in the Las Vegas area decreased 3.9 percent from $260,000 in December to $249,900 in January. That's down 17.3 percent from last January.

-- For condos and townhomes, the median sales price in January decreased 12.4 percent from $185,000 in December to $162,000 in January. That's down 20.8 percent from last January.

-- The number of local homes listed for sale through January increased 0.5 percent for single-family homes, with 22,117 homes listed for sale, compared to 22,005 homes listed for sale in December. That's up 17.8 percent from January 2007.

-- The number of condos and townhomes listed for sale declined by 2.2 percent from 5,508 in December to 5,388 in January. That's an increase of 5.3 percent from the number of condos and townhomes listed in January 2007.

-- The total number of single-family homes sold in January was 983. That's up 11.8 percent from 879 homes sold in December. On an annual basis, the number of homes sold declined 39.6 percent from January 2007. For condos and townhomes, 168 units were sold in January, up 0.6 percent from 167 sales in December and down 47.2 percent from last January.

Kelley said that all the local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS translated into more than $302 million of sales volume, up 7.9 percent from last month.