The arrival of the holiday shopping season keeps one Las Vegan on his toes. Mike Wethington is general manager of Town Square, which this month is celebrating its second anniversary.
The medical office market, even though it is slumping, is outperforming the rest of the local commercial sector because it doesn’t have the same level of distressed properties facing foreclosures, industry analysts said.
Sales in the local high-rise market rose 7 percentage points in the third quarter, but closings at the Trump International have been essentially nonexistent, according to the latest report by a Las Vegas research firm.
The foreclosure rate in Nevada fell 26 percent in October, but the state remained No. 1 in the nation, according to RealtyTrac, a firm that tracks foreclosures nationwide. Nevada had 13,842 foreclosure filings, down 26 percent from September.
After a two-month dip, home sales rebounded in October and prices continued to hold steady, according to statistics released this morning by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
Commercial sector enters ‘drought’ with demand staying low
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
Research firm Applied Analysis reports nine commercial projects of consequence under construction off from the Strip in Southern Nevada. Once most of those projects wind down next year, development will essentially cease, one analyst says.
The construction crane only a few years ago was jokingly called the state bird of Nevada, but that era of growth has passed and by the second quarter of 2010 commercial construction in Las Vegas will come to a virtual halt, according to local analysts.
Land acquisitions of home lots by builders, developers and investment groups continue to pick up. SunCal Companies has purchased the lots formerly owned by Kimball Hill Homes as part of its liquidation.
Lenders might get more money, faster, than through foreclosure
Monday, Nov. 2, 2009
A prominent real estate analyst says banks are showing more interest in working with financially pinched homeowners in the sales of their “underwater” homes by agreeing to take some of the hit themselves.
The sagging economy will weigh on the Las Vegas real estate market and boost foreclosures on residential and commercial properties, according to a panel of local business executives. The group, composed of a lender, a bankruptcy attorney and a consultant, said the Las Vegas recovery will lag not only the nation but competing markets such as Phoenix.
Analysts are predicting more bad news for the retail real estate business as weak consumer confidence and a sagging job market will hurt development and push up vacancy rates.
The new-home market may be in the tank in Las Vegas, but that hasn’t stopped builders and investment groups from eyeing finished lots and other developable land at bargain-basement prices.
Although some national analysts are forecasting more doom and gloom for home prices in Las Vegas because of foreclosures, a local analyst is skeptical of their dire predictions.
As need for pro bono work has increased, state’s lawyers have less time to meet it
Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009
More and more financially pinched Nevadans are in need of free or reduced-fee legal aid — and are having a harder time finding it, with fewer attorneys donating their services and low-paying legal aid organizations understaffed.
As the state’s lawyers gather next week to honor those who do pro bono work, fewer Nevada attorneys are donating their services even though demand for free or low-cost legal aid is skyrocketing.
The recession has forced local businesses to cut the money they spend at Southern Nevada’s stop on the PGA Tour, but it hasn’t stopped them or the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority from entertaining clients.
The recession has taken a toll on many Las Vegas businesses, bringing them to the brink of failure. But several attorneys said some of those companies are guaranteeing their demise and putting themselves at risk without knowing it.
Las Vegas home sales traditionally slump at the end of the year as people wait until the spring to consider buying, and analysts are wondering how strong the market will be as the holidays and 2010 approach.
A group of business leaders, academics and politicians is trying to provide some insight about what Southern Nevada can do to live up to its potential.
The bad news is easy to see: Commercial vacancy rates continue to rise, rents keep dwindling and the potential exists for a large number of foreclosures to hit the market.
Investors in local housing don’t seem to be going away, but analysts are waiting to see if the biggest decline in sales from July to August carries through the rest of the year.
Numbers showing retail sales in Clark County declined 21 percent in July are adding to the anxiety of those who are waiting on the sidelines when it comes to development.
Pardee Homes ranked No. 1 in customer satisfaction and new-home quality in Las Vegas. Homebuilders increased their scores overall from 2008, according to the annual J.D. Power and Associates survey.
As bad as the home construction industry has been in Las Vegas, local builders rate what is happening here as better than other places across the country and are more optimistic about the next six months than their brethren nationwide.
Foreclosures, layoffs boost demand for help while lawyer-volunteers can afford to donate less time
Monday, Sept. 21, 2009
The slumping Las Vegas economy has increased demand for free legal services and stretched the resources of agencies trying to provide those services. “It is overwhelming,” said Lynn Etkins, development director of the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada.
The Children’s Attorneys Project at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada celebrates its 10th anniversary this month, and its work shouldn’t go unnoticed.