Local home prices continued to rise as the year came to an end, though fewer existing homes were sold in Southern Nevada during 2019 compared to the previous year, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR).
GLVAR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during December was $312,990. That was up 6.0% from $295,250 in December of 2018. Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in December was $178,000. That was up 8.9% from $163,500 in December of 2018.
According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condos, townhomes and other residential properties sold in Southern Nevada during 2019 was 41,269. That’s down from 42,876 total sales in 2018 and from 45,388 in 2017.
The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during December was 3,214. Compared to one year ago, December sales were up 21.8% for homes and up 17.2% for condos and townhomes.
That’s a dramatic departure from the real estate roller-coaster ride of the previous decade, he added. Before slowing down last year, local home prices had been soaring since early 2012, posting double-digit gains from year to year while climbing back from their post-recession bottom. According to GLVAR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada peaked at $315,000 in June of 2006 before falling during the recession. Local home prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012.
The local housing inventory ended the year well below the six-month supply that is considered to be a more balanced market. At the current sales pace, Blanchard said Southern Nevada has just over a two-month supply of homes available for sale, with the supply shrinking from past months.
By the end of December, GLVAR reported 5,538 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 16.3% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,555 properties listed without offers in December represented a 1.8% increase from one year ago.
GLVAR reported that 21.8% of all local properties sold in December were purchased with cash. That compares to 22.7% one year ago. That’s well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active in the local housing market, but are playing a much smaller role than they were during and just after the recession.
At the same time, the number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.8% of all existing local property sales in December. That compares to 2.9% of all sales one year ago, 3.6% two years ago and 11% three years ago.
