Cash continues to be king when it comes to buying a home in Las Vegas. Research firm MDA DataQuick reported that cash buyers accounted for 50 percent of all home purchases in January, up from 39 percent in January 2009.
Bank-owned properties accounted for fewer than half of the existing sales in January in what analysts said is a greater movement of lenders to approve short sales.
Although the state’s jobless rate hovers at 13 percent and many workers are losing jobs, health care employment has bucked that trend in Las Vegas just as it has across the nation.
The Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities will host a free home rescue fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Rancho High School, 1900 Searles Ave., in North Las Vegas.
If real estate agents are applauding the historic snowfalls pounding the Midwest and Northeast, little wonder. History tells us that blizzards prompt snow-weary homeowners to move to Las Vegas, and the depressed housing market is making that all the more attractive. With a 60-percent decline in home prices in Las Vegas since 2006, the valley is certainly an attractive option to homebuyers tired of wielding snow shovels.
The late Sam Boyd, a gaming innovator, headlined a group of new inductees into the Nevada Business Hall of Fame. More than 300 people attended the ninth annual ceremonies.
Land transactions picked up pace in 2009, but investors continue to remain cautious about jumping into the market with such a large supply of empty commercial space, according to research firm Applied Analysis.
The 60 percent decline in home prices in Las Vegas since 2006 has opened the door for out-of-state retirees to move to the region and stimulate the housing market, real estate observers say.
Job losses and the time it will take to replace those jobs make this recession hurt more than most, but the American economy will show more signs of recovery in 2010, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist.
Nevada started 2010 leading the nation in the rate of foreclosure cases again, but lenders scaled back on the amount of filings from a year ago. California-based RealtyTrac reported Nevada had 11,854 foreclosure filings in January and 2,332 homes had been repossessed.
Home prices in Southern Nevada dipped slightly in January as investors purchased an even greater percentage of homes, according to statistics released this morning by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
An index that measures the Las Vegas economy through the spring edged up slightly in January, a reflection that job losses are starting to moderate, according to the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV. The index measures economic data in November and is a six-month forecast through May 1.
CityCenter is starting to finalize sales of condominiums, which coincides with already difficult conditions in the Las Vegas high-rise condo market, analysts said.
More than two years after his company opened the Molasky Corporate Center — the pioneer high-end green development in the valley — Richard Worthington said the concept is growing in popularity and downtown Las Vegas will come to symbolize it.
Contractors realize extra features not adding to appraised values
Friday, Feb. 5, 2010
Foreclosures that are depressing home values could temporarily slow the incorporation of green features into homes, a consultant to the homebuilding industry said.
A Las Vegas housing analyst said today he expects sales of existing homes in 2010 to mirror those in 2009 and predicts prices will increase by more than 3 percent by the end of the year. Dennis Smith, the president of Home Builders Research, said in a seminar held over the Web that existing home prices will rise by $4,000, or 3.3 percent, from $123,000 at the end of 2009 to $127,000 by the end of 2010. Prices have fallen nearly 60 percent from the peak of the market.
High-rise condominiums depreciated at the fastest rate in 2009, at 44 percent, while the average price decline for residential real estate fell 23 percent, according to a report from SalesTraq.
Sales of new and existing homes priced below $200,000 comprised 77 percent of transactions in Las Vegas in December as investors remain an integral part of the market, a real estate information firm reported.
Ken Lowman knows how to engineer his way around a problem. The 45-year-old broker-owner of Luxury Homes of Las Vegas, an electrical engineering graduate from Oregon State University, became interested in real estate while in Southern California.
Leave it to economists and housing analysts outside the Las Vegas market to put a damper on predictions that the valley’s market will be stable in 2010.
Nevada has led nation in rate of foreclosure filings since 2007, RealtyTrac says
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010
Las Vegas led the nation in foreclosure filings in 2009, according to a California firm that tracks the housing market. Las Vegas has routinely ranked in the top five metropolitan areas in foreclosures on a monthly basis, but this is the first time it had secured the top spot for a whole year.
A 16,400-square-foot home where Michael Jackson resided for six months in late 2007 and early 2008 has sold for $3.1 million. Jackson rented the home at 2785 S. Monte Cristo, which is southeast of the intersection of Buffalo Drive and Sahara Avenue. The home was ultimately taken back by the lender, Eastern Savings Bank, in lieu of it going through foreclosure with the previous owner, said Carolyn Mullany, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Premier.
The North Las Vegas ZIP code that includes the Eldorado residential development led the valley in foreclosures in 2009, according to statistics released by SalesTraq.
The new home market in Las Vegas is two years away from recovery, and builders are preparing for it by buying finished lots, according to a California consulting firm.
Minority- and women-owned construction companies are sad to see work winding down at CityCenter, but they haven’t forgotten the benefits they reaped from the project and hope to build on that in the future.
One expert says a wave of 'strategic defaults' a real possibility
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
Three of Las Vegas’ leading housing analysts said they expect 2010 to mirror 2009 for home sales. They predict prices will remain stable and suggested any recovery won’t come until 2011 at the earliest and most likely later.
Even though it is one of the nation’s sunniest places, the Las Vegas Valley is home to at least 86 tanning salons, according to the most recent phone book. Celebrities and tourists alike go for quick brownings before strutting their stuff in Strip nightclubs, and the valley’s many strippers frequent the salons, as do casino cocktail waitresses who feel like being tan makes them more attractive, which in turn helps them earn more tips.
The Las Vegas housing market will continue to struggle in 2010 as it faces more price declines and a growing number of foreclosures, economists said Tuesday.
Existing home sales in Las Vegas rose 57 percent in 2009, but builders sold fewer than half as many homes compared to 2008, according to statistics released Tuesday. SalesTraq reported that that demand for existing homes remained strong in December with the 4,502 sales the third highest-selling month in 2009, pushing the annual total to 48,075 – the third highest in the valley’s history. Median prices fell by $5,000 in December to $120,000.
Southern Nevada leaders know the economy here can no longer rely on gaming, growth and tourism, but pursuing options is costly proposition.
Monday, Jan. 18, 2010
In trying to hash out the lessons learned from the collapse of the economy, 70 of Southern Nevada’s business leaders, academics and politicians returned to a suggestion that has been around for years: Diversify the local economy.
A group of business leaders, academics and politicians doubts there will be a quick recovery for Las Vegas’s economy and suggested the future won’t be bright for Southern Nevada unless a greater emphasis is placed on diversification.