Vegas luxury real estate an exception

Southern Nevada housing market is nowadays on a wild ride, setting all sorts of dubious records. Here are a couple of them for your consideration. The MLS has more inventory than you care to admit and the current foreclosure rate here is beyond the pale. The thing is these are the kinds of milestones you try to forget as soon as you hear about them.

Just about the only right type of a record is being achieved in the ultraluxury real estate segment. Anything selling over $3 million is labeled ultraluxury in Sin City. There is this retired gaming exec who recently bought a house for $5.1 million in Promontory at The Ridges, paid cash for it and closed escrow within days. Nothing to it. It took 81 days to sell. At least he got to bypass the currently exhausting mortgage approval process.

The sector is on course to break the old annual sales record. GLVAR, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, reports thus far 49 sales in the over $3 million category and 17 in the over $5 million category. Doing that in a market that otherwise is on an IV drip is heart-warming.

Moreover, a Japanese developer has paid $10 million for a large gray-shell penthouse at the Panorama Towers. His plan is to spend another cool $5 million to finish up the digs to his liking. Supposedly it's the most ever dished out for a luxury condo in town.

So, there is the bright side of the local real estate market, representing a narrow niche.