A report released Thursday by Las Vegas REALTORS® shows local home prices setting another all-time record despite the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn, with more homes selling in July than the same time last year.
LVR (formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®) reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during July was $330,000. That’s up 1.5% from the previous record price set in June and up 8.9% from a median price of $303,000 in July of 2019.
The trend is similar for local condos and townhomes, which sold for a median price of $196,000 in July. While short of a record, that’s up 12% from $175,000 July of 2019.
“The Las Vegas housing market is not just a bright spot in the economy. It’s on fire,” said 2020 LVR President Tom Blanchard, a longtime local REALTOR®. “Local home prices are at record levels, with historically low interest rates, strong demand and a tight housing supply driving the market. Another factor contributing to these record prices is that higher-priced homes are making up a larger share of the homes being sold right now. After seeing sales slow down when this pandemic hit our state, it’s good to see that we sold more homes last month than we did during the same time last year.”
LVR reported a total of 4,025 existing local homes, condos and townhomes were sold during July. Compared to the same time last year, July sales were up 5.3% for homes, but down 3.3% for condos and townhomes. Sales were up significantly from the previous month.
Blanchard said it helps that the local housing market was on solid footing when Nevada declared a state of emergency in March, when local home sales were running ahead of last year’s pace and existing local home prices finally broke their longstanding record of $315,000 set back in June of 2006.
According to LVR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012 before rebounding steadily since then.
Blanchard said the number of local homes available for sale remains well below the six-month supply considered to be a balanced market. In fact, he said the sales pace in July equates to less than a two-month supply of homes available for sale.
By the end of July, LVR reported 4,806 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 38.4% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,581 properties listed without offers in July represented a 15.2% drop from one year ago.
LVR reported that 16.8% of all local properties sold in July were purchased with cash. That compares to 21.7% one year ago. That’s well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5%, suggesting that cash buyers and investors have been less active in the local housing market.
Despite the coronavirus crisis, the number of so-called distressed sales in July remained near historically low levels. The association reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for just 1.2% of all existing local property sales in July. That compares to 2.0% of all sales one year ago, 2.9% two years ago and 6.4% three years ago.
Blanchard expects distressed sales to remain low as long as state and federal moratoriums remain in place to prevent most evictions and foreclosures.
These LVR statistics include activity through the end of July 2020. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners. Other highlights include:
- The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during July was nearly $1.3 billion for homes and more than $140 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in July were up 14.0% for homes and up 5.6% for condos and townhomes.
- In July, 76.7% of all existing local homes and 70.0% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 78.0% of all existing local homes and 74.3% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.
