Las Vegas resale house inventory stable

Single-family home inventory for January stayed flat, announced Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors or GLVAR, after having declined gradually for four successive months. That can still be categorized as positive news on account it didn’t go up. The market appears to be firming up, possibly managing in the coming months to nurse the numbers further down.

The movement in prices continues to be the sore spot. Single-family house’s median price sagged 17.3% from January of 2007, settling at $249,900. Foreclosed homes made up 38% of sales, becoming a major factor to the rather steep drop. It’s very likely that foreclosures and short sales will keep influencing the market’s performance because thousands of investors who bought mortgage-backed securities in the past few years are now permitting lenders to sell off their real estate holdings. That will bring an untold number of properties to the market in the next several months and put more strain on prices.

It’s clear that presently REOs, or bank-owner real estate, hold the near-term fate of the Las Vegas marketplace in their hands. The sooner the bulk of them is liquidated, the faster a sustainable recovery can get up and running.

Steve Bottfeld from Marketing Solutions believes the market in the valley is about to stage a decent comeback this year. He predicts a 10% rise in resale values and 8% for new homes. His crystal ball might be right.