Las Vegas condo market softer

The local condominium market has received a lot of media coverage over the last few years and most of it has been positive. Of course, there were some bad news days, too, when developers had to cancel projects. Yet, many developments were completed more or less on time and the buyers closed on their purchases as agreed.

For the first time since the condo boom began somewhere in 2003 experts are talking about the supply flattening. Potential inventory level for existing units is 4,200 in the first quarter of 2007 and there were 13,400 condos under construction in that same time period. I'm not sure whether those numbers point down or up, but several times a month developers announce with the appropriate fanfare new condo projects somewhere in the valley. So, the supply side is sort of mixed.

On the demand side the news are markedly worse. SoHo Lofts reportedly has 70% of its residences listed for sale, a huge number. Can you imagine what happens to the unit values over there. According to another market observer, Metropolis also has lock boxes adorning a host of door knobs, another sign of units on the market. Again, this isn't the case with every high-rise building here, but you get the idea.

It seems that the years-long excitement is at last wearing off and reality is descending on the condominium market.