GLVAR says home sales up in June

Local housing statistics recently released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors show that the number of homes sold in Southern Nevada increased for the sixth straight month in June, while bank-owned properties continued to drag down local home prices.

"We're encouraged to see another significant increase in the number of homes sold here in the Las Vegas area. This is a good sign for our local housing market and for the Las Vegas economy overall," GLVAR President Patty Kelley said. "As for the slight decline in this month's median price of homes and condos, that's to be expected, since about half of all the homes we're selling are owned by lenders or are short sales.

These bank-owned homes are selling for prices that are often below market value. Sometimes they're selling for less than what it would cost to build that same home today."

Kelley said she was most encouraged to see that the 2,226 homes sold in June represent a 50.8 percent increase from the same month in 2007.

This month's GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of June.

The association distributes such 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.

The total number of local single-family homes sold in June was 2,226. That's up 9.9 percent from the 2,026 homes sold in May and up 50.8 percent from June of 2007. For local condos and townhomes, 294 were sold in June, compared to 266 sales in May.

That's up 10.5 percent from the month, but still down 14.5 percent compared to June of 2007. After increasing last month for the first time in more than a year, the median price of a single-family home sold in the Las Vegas area decreased by 4.9 percent, from $236,692 in May to $225,000 in June.

That's down 26.2 percent from June of 2007. For condos and townhomes, the median sales price decreased 1.4 percent from $139,450 in May to $137,500 in June. That's down 29.2 percent from June of 2007.

The number of local homes listed for sale through June remained fairly steady, increasing by 0.2 percent for single-family homes, with 23,388 listed for sale in June, compared to 23,348 homes listed for sale in May. That's down 1.1 percent from last June.

The number of condos and townhomes listed for sale increased 1.7 percent from 5,445 in May in 5,537 in June. That's down 11.6 percent from last June.