The steep drop in home prices and newly approved $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers will help pave the way for a recovery of the Las Vegas housing market in 2010, according to the chief economist with the National Association of Realtors.
Timing has never been a strong suit of Cashman Equipment when it comes to opening new headquarters or expanding its buildings. The Caterpillar construction equipment dealer dedicated its new corporate headquarters in Henderson this week — an impressive 53-acre site on St. Rose Parkway that is the largest environmentally sustainable industrial campus in the state.
Job losses and the poor economy have lessened demand for apartments, and the Las Vegas occupancy rate dropped to its lowest point since early 2003, according to a report by Applied Analysis.
After a rotten 2008, this year got off to a really bad start — so bad that even the most optimistic housing analyst in Las Vegas is extremely concerned. Sales of new and existing homes tumbled in January and foreclosures rose from December, according to statistics released by SalesTraq. The median price of existing homes sold in January tumbled another $10,000, dropping the price to $150,000. That’s a 48 percent drop from the highest price for existing homes at $288,000 in February 2007.
Foreclosure filings in Nevada dipped in January, but no one should take that as a sign the housing market is closing in on a recovery. Nevada continues to hold the top spot in foreclosure filings as a national push is intensifying to do something about the problem.
Two Las Vegas developers are taking the buffet to a new level. But instead of a spread of food that gives people a chance to sample a little of everything, Joel Laub and Don Borsack have taken the concept to a new level in the development business.
The pace of home sales slowed in January as the price continued to tumble, according to statistics released this morning by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
New wave of foreclosures likely to keep prices down
Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009
Anyone looking to regain the appreciation lost on his home over the past 18 months is going to have to wait awhile, according to Scott Dugan, one of the leading appraisers in Las Vegas.
The downturn in the economy and national credit crunch have slowed commercial construction in Las Vegas, but developers and advocates of green projects say that while building has slowed, the enthusiasm for pursuing green hasn’t.
Anyone looking to regain the appreciation they lost on their homes during the correction over the last 18 months is going to have to wait awhile, according to Scott Dugan, one of the leading appraisers in Las Vegas.
The credit crunch and economic downturn are taking their toll on the Las Vegas high-rise market. Las Vegas research firm SalesTraq reports that of the 15 high-rise projects in the valley, nearly half have less than 60 percent of the units sold. And of those already sold, a growing number are in foreclosure proceedings.
Bleak forecast calls for values to drop into first quarter of 2010
Monday, Feb. 2, 2009
Moody’s Economy.com projects the total decline in the market will reach 52 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2010, says Mike Helmar, director of industry services and an economist who oversees Nevada forecasts.
Astoria Homes out of financing options, going into ‘hibernation’
Monday, Feb. 2, 2009
Tom McCormick can empathize with homeowners who have lost their properties to foreclosure. He’s losing 30 brand new, never-lived-in homes to foreclosure in one fell swoop.
Astoria Homes, one of Las Vegas’ largest private builders, announced it stopped constructing homes after lenders foreclosed on three of its neighborhoods. The locally based builder laid off 17 people last week and is down to 17 employees — a tenth of the 170 workers it had at the height of the housing boom in 2005-06.
How much further do Las Vegas home prices have to fall? It’s the pressing question on the minds of homeowners concerned about the value they are losing on their properties and potential buyers, who are waiting on the sidelines before they purchase.
No one has a crystal ball when it comes to Las Vegas housing. One of Las Vegas’ leading analysts predicts the housing market will reach its bottom in the first quarter and suggested prices don’t have much further to fall. But Steve Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions, tempered his own prediction by urging people to be wary of forecasts about the housing market. Speaking at his Crystal Ball seminar Jan. 22 at Texas Station, he said what’s happening in housing is uncharted waters.
Birth of a trend is seen in decision to lease furnished apartments for up to a year
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009
With the condo-hotel market hard hit and many prospective owners unable to close on their units, Donald Trump has decided to lease units at the Trump Tower for up to one year as furnished apartments.
A group of economists at a national homebuilders’ conference predicted the housing market will continue to struggle in 2009, but held out hope it could stabilize by end of the year and begin a slow recovery in 2010. But the same economists suggested it will be another two to three years before the market starts to return to any sort of normalcy.
One of the valley’s leading housing experts said the Las Vegas market will continue its poor performance in 2009 and may be a couple of years away from a recovery.
With the condo-hotel market hard hit and many prospective owners unable to close on their units, Donald Trump has an innovative solution. The real estate developer has decided to lease units at the Trump Tower up to one year as upscale furnished apartments.
It’s bad and getting worse. That’s the description of the local economy from Keith Schwer, director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Schwer released the center’s Southern Nevada Index of Leading Economic Indicators that shows a downward trend that suggests the economic contraction won’t abate during the first half of the year.
Fueled by foreclosures and a 37 percent drop in median price to $205,893, the existing-home market ended 2008 with 31,727 sales, 38 percent more than in 2007. Combined with declines in 2007, the median home price has fallen 45 percent since February 2007 when it was $288,000.
The decision by MGM Mirage to cancel one of its condo components at CityCenter has some buyers looking for alternatives and Realtors lamenting the loss of income. CityCenter has decided not to build the top floors of the Harmon tower, where 207 condominiums were to sit on top of a 400-room hotel. Nearly 90 of the units were sold, but the project has been limited to a hotel only because of construction flaws.
The Las Vegas office market has been hit hard by the recession. The amount of new space completed in 2008 was 36 percent of its 2007 level and the total space leased was half of what it was in 2007, according to Patricia Nooney, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, a commercial brokerage.
The national credit and housing crisis along with the recession have taken their toll on the Las Vegas retail market. The vacancy rate increased sharply during the fourth quarter to 9.9 percent, said Patricia Nooney, managing director with CB Richard Ellis, a commercial brokerage. That’s more than double what it was in the fourth quarter of 2007.
Industrial lease rates are expected to remain low in the first half of this year, but one brokerage predicts they will rise in 2010 when vacancy rates start to come down. Lease rates started moving down in mid-2008 as landlords aggressively offered concessions to entice new tenants. And starting off 2009, the feeling among tenants and landlords is uncertainty, said Dave Dworkin, a research analyst for Grubb & Ellis. Many of the tenants who leased space at the height of the market in 2006 or early 2007 are paying higher rents than what is being offered today, he said.
The declining availability of land suitable for industrial development will harm Southern Nevada’s economy and its job growth over time, according to a report released this week by a Las Vegas commercial development real estate association. The lack of industrial land for warehouses and distribution has long been a concern in Las Vegas and was even highlighted in 2006 at a round table discussion by the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV.
No one knows how challenging the downturn in the Las Vegas housing market has been more than Mark Stark. The chief executive of Prudential Americana Group, one of the largest real estate brokerages in Las Vegas, had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2007 to save his company.
Some in the real estate community were alarmed during the presidential campaign last summer, fearing a Barack Obama victory would substantially raise taxes and harm their investments. Some developers even sold properties or listed them for sale because of concerns the capital gains tax would increase from 15 percent to 25 percent to 28 percent. That one-time angst over tax policy has since shifted to the economy and their fears have turned into hope that an Obama administration can lift the country out of its recession.
Next foreclosure wave could be those who can afford payments
Friday, Jan. 9, 2009
Adjustable rate mortgages and investors counting on appreciation fueled Nevada’s rise to its spot as the foreclosure capital of the country the past two years. By the time the final 2008 statistics are calculated, the Las Vegas Valley is expected to have more than 25,000 foreclosures, according to SalesTraq’s count.
Median price down 33 percent in December compared to last year
Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009
Las Vegas home sales were brisk in December, but they came at a price. The median price of homes sold on the Multiple Listing Service in December fell $11,000 to $175,000, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. That’s a 33 percent drop since December 2007.
Number of foreclosures last month was the fewest since March
Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008
The price of existing homes sold in Las Vegas in November plummeted to their lowest level since August 2003 and the new-home and condominium market continued its dismal performance, according to statistics released by SalesTraq.
Foreclosures — and need for cash — force dramatic price cuts
Sunday, Dec. 21, 2008
The competition from foreclosures continues to force Las Vegas homebuilders to cut prices and build smaller, more affordable homes and in some cases not build any. Eighteen builders have more than 100 models priced under $100 per square foot, said Larry Murphy, president of SalesTraq, which tracks the Las Vegas housing market. The price per square foot of new homes sold through October was $126.01 — a 30 percent decline from $180.17 in 2007.
The sale of homes tailed off in November compared to October and prices continued to fall, according to statistics released by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
Homes have yet to be built on land by Kyle Canyon purchased for $510 million
Friday, Nov. 21, 2008
When Focus Property Group gathered eight homebuilders and purchased 1,710 acres of government land at the base of Kyle Canyon in 2005, it promised to extend Las Vegas still farther into the desert, delivering suburbia to the doorstep of Mount Charleston.
Price depreciation of existing homes sold in October slowed to its lowest level since April as sales remained strong despite the lingering credit crunch.
Wachovia Bank has foreclosed upon a 1,710-acre development in Las Vegas before a single home was built, the chief executive of Focus Property Group said today.
City recorded one filing for every 62 households in October
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008
Las Vegas reported the highest foreclosure rates in the nation in October in topping 229 other metropolitan areas. The 12,155 filings in Las Vegas were 6 percent greater than September and 104 percent higher than October 2007.
The number of home sales listed by Realtors dipped slightly in October as median prices fell to $190,000, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported.
Survey shows local business leaders concerned about housing market
Friday, Nov. 7, 2008
The Las Vegas economy, which has been in recession since the end of 2007, has remained in a holding pattern but the weakness should continue into 2010, according to a UNLV economist.