LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It’s a good time to be selling homes as housing prices continue to rise in Las Vegas. However, it also comes at a time when thousands of Nevadans are in danger of being evicted from their homes.
There’s a great chance you’ll turn a profit selling a home as the housing market in the valley continues to defy an overall bleak economy. Numbers from Las Vegas Realtors showing the median price of single-family homes sitting at $340,200 in October, up about 11% from October of last year.
“My dad used to tell me that there are two things in life that are always going to be constant and one’s shelter and the other is food. So, housing covers that shelter criteria right there.”
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Aldo Martinez, president-elect of the organization says, low mortgage rates are one reason why there’s a favorable market with home sales up 11% from last year. Martinez says it’s motivating more sales as homebuilders try to keep up with demand.
“You can own a home for a lot less than you can rent a home,” he said.
On the flip side, the pandemic has hit many locals hard with job losses turning into anxiety over paying rent. The CDC has put in place a moratorium on evictions that lasts until the new year, but that hasn't stopped many from being kicked out of their homes. A study from the Aspen Institute shows more than 418,000 Nevadans or nearly 182,000 households at risk of eviction by the end of December. In some instances, renters living on investment properties owned by large companies may find their rent contingent on performing for stockholders.
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“Big institutional companies that have these rental properties are always going to try to hold prices firm on their apartment complexes. They have to pay mortgages. Those big complexes,” Martinez said.
Financial analyst Steve Budin says that’s a warning to give anyone who’s renting.
“If the house price they’re paying goes up, they need to charge a higher amount in rent to make that investment worthwhile, and they would be raising rent at the worst time for a lot for workers,” he said.
Martinez says his organization expects to get another report this week with numbers from November.
