Vegas home sales slow

The real estate market here in the valley is still struggling. GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, published its September stats the other day and they continue to tell us how weak the market is. September usually is slow, but this time it was a little more than that.

In all there were 990 sales last month which is 43% below last year's number. That is a sizable drop. Given that and the high inventory means that to sell a home now takes a long time. According to one calculation Vegas has 22-month supply of properties on the market.

Let's look at some of the good news next. The inventory of single-family houses on the MLS actually edged down to 24,218, a 0.5% change. Once this figure starts heading lower on a consistent basis we can start breathing easier. So, let's hope this is the beginning of that.

The median price for September was $285,750, a 7.8% decline from a year ago. It's a drop, yes, but not that bad. It could be much worse. Actually the older, established neighborhoods are holding their values pretty good. The real weakness is found in the new developments where people went in and bought houses with exotic mortgages. So, all in all, it's an uneven situation that today's buyers should take into consideration when contemplating a purchase.