FHA seeks operational change - Las Vegas mortgage applicants could benefit

The current housing market turmoil has delivered the conventional home loan sector a hard uppercut on the chin, sending it reeling, which left a huge void in its wake. This gave FHA, rather dormant home loan insurer in recent years, an opening to regain some its past luster and it has steadily gained market share ever since. Its low down payment requirement and more lenient underwriting criteria have allowed many of today's mortgage borrowers achieve home ownership. Many well-meaning industry observers have also dubbed FHA the new subprime lender.

FHA has run into trouble of late, though, like who hasn't, due to growing defaults on mortgages it insures. That has prompted it to tighten the guidelines under which it operates. Now it is planning to make more adjustments in a further attempt to lower risk and shore up its leaky insurance fund.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Las Vegas luxury condo market warming up for new day - mortgage money still scarce

Southern Nevada - with communities of Mountains Edge, Summerlin, Henderson, Southern Highlands, North Las Vegas, Anthem and Green Valley - condominium segment bubbled up a little later than the single-family side, but its slide became equally devastating once it hit the slope down. Mortgage financing dried suddenly up, oversupply was horrendous and the mauled global economy forced many would-be buyers to the sidelines. The usual menu that real estate disasters are made of.

Now, though, things are cautiously looking up for the Las Vegas high-rise condo market. Sales in the third quarter climbed a decent 7%, as was reported by SalesTraq, a Las Vegas research boutique. Looking at it another way means that now 45% of all luxury condominiums in town are effectively sold, up from 38% at the end of the second quarter. True, the increase is well received and offers optimism down the road, yet it still leaves a monstrous block of vacant units out there, 55% in all. Undoubtedly that is a lot of inventory seeking qualified and willing buyers.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Expanded tax credit enticing - Henderson mortgage applicants be aware

The drama is over for Las Vegas valley's - including Summerlin, Southern Highlands, Green Valley, North Las Vegas, Anthem and Mountain's Edge - residents. The first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended because many considered it a strong demand booster for the ailing housing market and more of the same is needed at least for the time being. In fact, it was expanded to include the move-up buyer as well, a factor that should further power the demand side. Let's look at a few of the more appealing aspects a move-up buyer can enjoy with the up to $6,500 tax credit.


The contract deadline is April 30, 2010, preferably with the mortgage already approved and ready to go, and closing needs to happen by June 30. That's the time line.

The move-up, or repeat, buyer is one who has owned and lived in the same property five consecutive years of eight years before the purchase date. He can buy a home that is less expensive than the existing one.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada - Las Vegas, Henderson, Summerlin - housing stats on the mend in October

Las Vegas real estate has recently been the punching bag of many industry observers and for a good reason. Mortgage foreclosure rate here is still reaching for the moon, housing inventory remains high and the economic picture is painted in dark colors. True, mortgage rates are enticing and home prices have plunged and have together provided some hope, but a lot more needs to happen for it to reach the "normal".


What's encouraging is that the vital signs are slowly improving, with emphasis on the word slowly.

As was reported by GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, 3,535 single-family houses were closed in October, logging a nice 5.3% boost from September. This actually translates into a 30.1% jump from a year ago, a strong show of progress. As a note of caution is the fact that much of the demand still comes from first-time buyers and opportunistic investors. They are almost exclusively feasting on the lower end of the price scale.

To read the entire blog please click on the above link.

Las Vegas mortgage defaults increasingly strategic - mortgage walkaways rise among wealthy

The real estate market has been cruel, to be perfectly honest, to homeowners across the country. Housing values in many cities and regions have dropped so far and fast that it's sometimes hard to keep track of it all. Much less understand how the utter devastation is possible. But that is the cold reality every homeowner is faced with today.


Southern Nevada - with communities like Las Vegas, Summerlin, Henderson, Southern Highlands, Anthem, Green Valley and Mountains Edge - has absorbed some of the most severe blows of them all to its real estate prices. In the same boat are at least Arizona, California and Florida. Industry observers are talking about values often dipping below replacement cost. With that type of erosion comes another grim problem; dragging scores of mortgage borrowers underwater on their homes.

Many Las Vegas homeowners are increasingly thinking of walking away from the obligation. The more they are upside down, or underwater, the more likely it is that they'll do just that. It's hard to consider moral responsibility that much any more when in-the-red numbers are typed in six figures.
 
To read the entire article please click on the above link.

Subprime loans make a comeback - Las Vegas mortgage borrowers go FHA

Mortgage loans that were labeled subprime just a few years ago were partly responsible for the notorious real estate bubble. When it burst and let all the air out, the subprime product quickly disappeared from the bloodied scene. Many housing observers warmed up their fingers over keyboards and wrote all these tearful obituaries, believing it would be gone for good. But guess what? It's now back.

This much-criticized mortgage segment has adopted a new backer, however. Subprime used to be pretty much exclusively conventional lenders' territory, until the recent thermonuclear event. With their exit a new player emerged to fill the void, Ginnie Mae, a wholly-owned government corporation created within HUD. Ginnie Mae is another adorable name in the mortgage arena, besides Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Ginnie Mae operates a little differently from its above-mentioned and better-known sister agencies. It guarantees investors timely payment of interest and principal on MBS, or mortgage-backed securities, supported by federally insured loans, meaning FHA, and federally guaranteed loans, in this case VA. The majority of its guarantees go to these two organizations. Ginnie Mae is not in the business of buying or selling loans or issuing MBS.

To read the entire article please click on the above link.

Las Vegas real estate values rise thanks to Washington

Housing prices have been in a free fall in most sectors of the nation for a long while, much longer than anyone would’ve predicted. When mortgage financing is hard to come by and supply far outpaces demand that’s usually what will follow. The weak economy is also a major contributor to this. Lately, though, prices have begun to stabilize across the map.

Southern Nevada – Las Vegas, Henderson, Green Valley, Summerlin, Southern Highlands, Pahrump, Mountains Edge, Henderson and Mesquite among the communities here – is a good example of that. The lower end of the marketplace is rather busy here as investors and first-time home buyers do their thing and pick up bargain properties. The statistics are somewhat slanted because of the proportionally high impact of this particular segment. The mid-range and upper end in Las Vegas are still quite soft due to lack of demand, as expected, and difficulties in securing home loan approvals.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Las Vegas real estate numbers show small improvements in September

Southern Nevada - accommodating communities like Anthem, Summerlin, Henderson, Mountains Edge, North Las Vegas, Southern Highlands and Pahrump - resale housing segment took a cautious step forward in September, after going the other way in August. A curious trend might be developing, actually so predicted by some industry experts, where the real estate market will find the bottom and then will bounce along there for some time. Despite very attractive mortgage money and truly appealing home prices that may be all it can do for now, as the economy remains weak and unemployment is pushing deeper into in double digits.

For September there were 3,358 single-family residences sold, so reported by GLVAR, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. That amounts to a nice 4% improvement from August and a solid 20.7% jump from the same month last year. The buyer base is rather narrow, though. It's dominated pretty much by the first-time homeowner and the investor, both of whom aim at the lower end of the price scale.

To read the entire blog, please click on the above link.

Vegas mortgage providers to scrutinize CityCenter price rollbacks

The housing market blowup hasn't spared any sectors from its destructive fury here in Las Vegas valley - including Henderson, Anthem, Mountains Edge, Pahrump, Southern Highlands, Summerlin and North Las Vegas. Condos have been spanked as harshly as the single-family houses. Upscale high-rise condominiums on the colorful Strip and elsewhere in the vast valley, thought by some to be above the mess, have absorbed the same unhealthy whipping. No development could hide from it.

CityCenter being built by MGM Mirage, the $8.5 billion luxury mission, also has a large condo component in it, beside the usual elegant casino, convention, hotel and retail offerings. It'll have about 2,400 units in all split between the Vdara, Veer Towers and The Residences at Mandarin Oriental. CityCenter itself will commence opening in stages in December and the condominiums are set to begin closing sales in January.

To read the entire blog please click on the link.

Southern Nevada claims top spot in an upbeat housing report

Las Vegas valley - including Summerlin, Henderson, Green Valley, Southern Highlands, Mountains Edge, Anthem and North Las Vegas - has distinguished the pages of many publications in recent years regarding the unbelievable real estate blowup and subsequent mortgage foreclosure tailspin here. It often managed to top many of the national stats that measured how badly these negative housing market conditions have affected the valley. That has not been enjoyable reading for the locals. Going from a favorite boom town to a bust town so quickly can be quite deflating.

Southern Nevada housing news have got cautiously better, though, in recent months. And another good piece was just published in Forbes magazine. Altos Research supplied Forbes the data that it used to study 20 large real estate markets in a somewhat unusual way. It measured the changes in price cutbacks in homes listed for sale. In other words, if a given market sees a growing number of price reductions, then that area is still getting worse. And vice versa. A refreshing method, no question.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada housing values slow to recover

Moody's Economy.com analyst believes real estate values will take a long while to reach the levels they got to around 2006, the peak year of this recent ultra expansion. Prices shot up at a rather steep curve and then slammed into a wall and plunged at a scary velocity. With that disintegration a lot of other economic fundamentals were thrown out the window, too, and there seemingly are the seeds to the sluggish housing recovery.

Real estate prices will take 20 years to reach the earlier high point in California and Florida, the Moody's Economy.com forecast asserts. That's entirely possible knowing what those states have gone through. Arizona and Nevada, especially the Las Vegas valley, are conspicuously absent in it, although they are as a rule considered among the four most bubbling ones and then later the most distressed ones, sporting as severe mortgage foreclosure numbers and terrible housing market conditions as the other two.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

FICO's new version more tolerant

Home loan applicants are very familiar with FICO, the popular scoring model that has a lot to do with the type of a mortgage and interest rate they could qualify for. In addition to being broadly employed in most consumer credit requests, it's today also checked in many other situations, like in employment and insurance.

FICO 08 is the brand new update of the model, warm out of the oven. It is calibrated seemingly once a year to echo what is going on in the credit marketplace, as it should be. Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, the big three, have already put their arms around it.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Las Vegas resale housing numbers down some in August

Southern Nevada - with communities of Henderson, Summerlin, Green Valley, Sunrise Manor and North Las Vegas - real estate market slowed up slightly as the summer progressed, in fact to no surprise. July was already a little weaker than the several previous months that had been increasingly strong. Mortgage rates remain very desirable, as do home prices, but even these factors weren't enough to prevent a cautious slide down.

GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, tells the world this time that 3,229 single-family houses were sold in August, a 14% drop from July. That's one thing, while the other is that in August of last year the sales number was merely 2,545, so in that comparison the action this year is still rather good.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada housing among most affordable again

Las Vegas valley - like Green Valley, Summerlin, Henderson, Anthem, Spring Valley and Eldorado - was fast pricing itself out of the real estate market a few years ago. The recent unbelievable boom pushed property values way past the average household income, forcing many to buy homes with exotic mortgages that they really couldn't afford, or leaving others out of the market altogether.

That was the flavor of the Sin City housing scene then. Things, fortunately, have changed quite a bit from those days.

BusinessWeek.com and a research operation Reis made some highly advanced calculations to rank the top 20 cheapest real estate markets in the entire nation. The study actually compared how much it costs to own and maintain a home vs. renting one. Reis compiled these figures from its own second quarter rent stats and from Zillow.com's second quarter home price data. And the envelope, please.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Las Vegas home buyers take note, walkable neighborhoods command higher prices

Real estate, as everybody says, is all about location, location, location, and that seems to be backed up by a new study commissioned by CEOs for Cities. It's a national cross-sector group of urban movers and shakers from business, academic, philanthropic and civic arenas dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of viable American cities. They if anyone ought to be in the know on this topic.

The study is titled 'Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities' and was prepared by Joseph Cortright from Impresa, a Portland consulting shop. All in all, what was determined was how the proximity of homes to services like schools, shopping, libraries, parks and restaurants - even mortgage and real estate offices someone would like throw in - shapes values. To prepare this report researchers looked at 94,000 home sales in 15 different markets with the data supplied by ZipRealty. It found out that in 13 of them residences within walking distance of standard services clearly benefited from higher prices.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada existing home sales steady in July

The real estate market in Las Vegas valley, including in Summerlin, Seven Hills, Green Valley and Henderson, had several strong months late in the spring and heading into the summer, mostly because of low mortgage rates and ever more affordable prices. Those two conditions sure do have that something extra to attract buyers, in this day and age generally first-timers and investors, to make a play for it.

GLVAR, or the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, affirms that for July the statistics are still relatively strong, although some slowdown from previous months is evident. The single-family home inventory inched lower by 0.9%, from 20,613 in June to 20,423. It is gradually coming down. Many housing experts in Las Vegas would like to see it do so a bit faster. It is down, though, by 12.8% from last year.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Energy Efficient Mortgage by FHA assists homeowners with utility bills

FHA Energy Efficient Mortgage, or EEM, has been available for years but hasn't really caught on that well. Not yet anyway. Washington is just now tooling up a national campaign to highlight the importance of energy conservation in housing. It's allocating a lot of resources to it. As a result the EEM is for sure going to get more media exposure in the coming months and could even be enhanced with some additional incentives.

FHA EEM basically works now like this. The borrower would purchase or refinance a principal residence, going through a standard FHA home loan approval process, and then can add the cost of energy efficient improvements on top of the mortgage. He doesn't need to qualify for the extra money nor is it part of the down payment calculations. One- to four-unit existing and new properties are the real thing.

The cost of improvements that may be eligible under FHA EEM is the lesser of the two below:

- The actual total of cost-effective energy improvements, as well as the cost of the report and inspections, or
- The lesser of 5% of:
- The value of the home, or
- 115% of the median area value of a single-family home, or
- 150% of the conforming Freddie Mac limit. Kind of complicated right here.

Please click on the link to read the rest of the blog.

CityCenter Las Vegas sold condominiums to be repriced

Southern Nevada condo market has fared as poorly in recent years as the battered single-family sector. The slump is afflicting everything with the condo banner hanging over it; the luxury high-rises, the contemporary mid-rises and the homey low-rises. A whole bunch of units on Strip glass buildings have gone unsold for a long while, dating back to when the bubble began loudly leaking air. The ones, easily hundreds, that have deposits on them haven't closed either because mortgage money has pretty much dried up. Moreover, the drastic value loss has caused many would-be buyers to balk at finalizing their purchases.

MGM Mirage's CityCenter condos, the three are Veer Towers, Vdara Condo Hotel and The Residences at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, are in the middle of that kind of a row with buyers. A while back MGM Mirage stood rather firm at the original price structure despite loud appeals that they work with them. But the resort giant's mind has changed recently.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog. Picture courtesy of mandj98.

HARP ceiling lifts up to 125% loan-to-value

Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, was recently amended. Relief Refinance Mortgage by Freddie Mac comes under this title. It's now in the books that the previous limit of 105% has been pushed up to 125% loan-to-value, or LTV, something that Washington had been playing with for a bit. "This is a change that will put affordable refinancing opportunities within reach of performing borrowers who have suffered the effects of local home price erosion," explained coolly a Freddie Mac suit. Eligible homeowners are current on their loan payments and have a mortgage owned or guaranteed by the agency.

Freddie Mac's Relief Refinance Mortgage has some usable features, too, that might be of interest to Las Vegas homeowners. It allows borrowers to finance closing and financing costs and prepaids/escrows up to $5,000, or 4% of the mortgage balance to be refinanced, whichever is less. Moreover, mortgage insurance, or MI, is not needed if the underlying note does not have one. If there happens to be an MI on the existing mortgage, the new one must keep the same coverage. That's nice.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

FHA mortgage making an impact in Southern Nevada

FHA's market share in Las Vegas a few years ago was very narrow because the conventional home loan product was generally offering much better terms. And then comes the mother of all housing slumps that mauls the conventional mortgage sector and gives FHA a fresh opportunity to show what it can do. And it's rising to the occasion.

A good deal of the real estate action in Las Vegas today is at the lower end of the market where prices have truly become affordable, be it a single-family home or a condo or a townhouse. Values have been unsympathetically rolled back to the levels of the late 1990s. This has handed the first-time home buyer, someone who hasn't owned a home in the past three years, a chance of a lifetime and he is taking advantage of it.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Las Vegas resales rise in June

Southern Nevada real estate market is gradually changing for the better. The key word is gradually. There have been some subtle clues about it in the past several months and more are trickling in.

GLVAR, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, reports that a total of 3,785 single-family homes were sold in June, climbing a respectable 16.3% from May. What's even better is that this is a 70% improvement from the same month last year. REOs still dominate but it doesn't matter as long as the market remains active. Tough conventional mortgage requirements kept these numbers from going even higher, although FHA loans have elbowed into the void with their low down payment options and more flexible underwriting criteria.

More solid news follow. The inventory of resales on the MLS sank to 20,613, over 500 units less than in May and a good 11.9% dive from June of 2008. This is the third consecutive decrease and it is slowly approaching somewhat of a target for Las Vegas industry experts, the 20,000 home figure. Despite still being historically high, at least it is now steadily trending lower.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Slumping condominium prices at CityCenter trouble some buyers

It was pretty much expected. Las Vegas real estate market has been buffeted by gale-force winds, brought to its knees by unchecked overbuilding, wild speculation, foreclosed mortgages and struggling economy. That also includes the luxury high-rise condo sector that was once flying as high as the International Space Station. Predictably, prices in condominiums have retreated by long strides as well, not just in small steps.

The chic and colossal CityCenter development on the Strip, an $8.4 billion gig, has been sucked into the same spine-tingling spiral. It has three residence destinations to offer; Veer Towers, The Residences at Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, and Vdara Condo Hotel, totaling roughly 2,440 units. Buyers have so far doled out $313 million in down payments on about 1,500 of them. Now some of them are requesting the developer, MGM Mirage, adjust the price levels down to reflect today's sagging housing market. So far the answer has been "Not so fast."

To read the entire article please click on the above link.

Demand for real estate set to return because of echo boomers

Even though it looks like the struggling housing market is showing some signs of improvement, for instance here in Las Vegas lender REOs in the lower half of the marketplace are selling briskly, there remain steep hurdles to overcome before it can be called healthy again. Mortgage financing is hard to come by, countless homeowners are upside down and unemployment is climbing, just to mention some of the obvious problems.

But if the spotlight is shifted over into the near future, then there is good reason to be hopeful about what's to come. Here is why. Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies asserts in its annual State of the Nation's Housing report that once this recession begins to lose steam, the real estate market will recover rather strongly due to favorable demographic trends.

As stated by the report so called echo boomers, the roughly 75 million citizens born between 1979 and 1995, will form the base for it. In the next 10 years they will start up from 12.5 million to 14.8 million new households and that logically means increased demand for housing. Everyone can happily put their arms around this theory.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada new home sales improve some in May

Changes for the better are hard to come by for home builders in Las Vegas, as marketing their product continues to face an uphill battle. In the meantime the existing home sector is getting a lot of attention from buyers and investors thanks to the low price structure there, that being the main reason for the yawning disparity. Both are struggling equally with tight mortgage guidelines, scarce down payment accounts and the adverse effects of the high unemployment here.

The May housing report, created by Home Builders Research, does offer some hope for new homes, namely in the number of sales they generated. 378 of them were closed, which is a bit better than the April’s total of 343. In a year-to-year comparison things look awful, though, with a drop of 59%, as 921 units were sold in May of 2008. Still, currently there is gradual upward movement in sales, in slow motion to be sure, and that is as much as anyone can hope for in this recession environment.

The price structure continues to hamper the building industry in Las Vegas. With a median price of $212,900 a new home has very little appeal when the median value of an existing property is somewhere around $140,000, dragged down that far by a bunch of foreclosures and bank REOs. The gap is simply too wide to overcome, in spite of the new smell inside the model home stimulating the prospect’s nose. The powerful dollar mode seems to be easily dominating his brain function in this situation. Can't fault him for that.

Silverstone Ranch, Las Vegas, in the photo.

Las Vegas resale housing inventory drops in May

Another whiff of optimism over the local real estate market blew into Southern Nevada this week. Any small improvement anywhere in the industry stats is nowadays welcomed with wide-open arms. So, let's take it.

In the new statistical report on the housing market here just released, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, or GLVAR, says that the inventory of homes fell by 9.3% from the same time last year. Moreover, there were 21,181 units in it in May, about 1,000 less than in April when the number stood at 22,112. This statistic has remained alarmingly high despite the rather strong sales lately in the lower half of the market. A steady flow of bank REOs being listed has kept the figure up there. Now there seems to be a small break to it, even a decrease by 1,000 homes is in some way an encouraging sign that perhaps a new trend is developing. Many are waiting for the day when the total inventory number sinks below 20,000, and stays there. And keeps going south.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada one of the most undervalued housing markets

Let's go right to the point. In the 10 Most Undervalued cities Las Vegas came in third, according to IHS Global Insight. The firm put this special report together by analyzing household incomes, historical prices and housing densities and then arrived at statistically normal home prices which were subsequently weighed against actual values of a given city. The difference then either placed the area in the overvalued or undervalued category.

In this particular study, Las Vegas median home price was discovered to be $140,000, meaning that it is 40.9% undervalued. That is a high number.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Las Vegas new single-family house sector draws recovery prediction

Plenty of time and money is spent annually in foreseeing the future in all sorts of areas. From the familiar to the bizarre. As expected, the mortgage and housing markets have seen their fair share of this. Some of these studies are more accurate than others, after they are later independently checked for accuracy. But overall, the results of these novel exercises appear to be off the mark, sometimes way off.

In any case, here is the latest for Las Vegas, Nevada. According to a new real estate market study completed by the Concord Group, Southern Nevada can expect its new single-family home sector to pick up in the first quarter of 2012. 2012? That comes to about three years from now. This national projection relies on analysis of unsold inventory, anticipated shifts in the employment picture and demand, which are rather decent criteria.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Mortgage interest rates inch higher

Freddie Mac's weekly average moved up a little, to 4.91% for 30-year fixed. This same PMMS index stood at 6.08% last year this time, a scary number in comparison. Rising long-term bond yields are primarily responsible for the subtle increase, as the financial sector is trying figure out the direction of the fragile economy.

Las Vegas homes go underwater

Home prices are still falling nationally. More in some areas and less in others, but they still are in retreat. People who bought real estate in the last five years or so are in real danger of being upside down. Or underwater. That's when the balance on the underlying mortgage is higher than the home's value. Those who put nothing or very little down are most vulnerable.

Zillow.com, a well-known real estate website, just released a report on the first quarter of 2009 according to which 21.9% of all homeowners are now taking a bath. It was 17.6% in the fourth quarter, so the increase is clear.

In the same report Las Vegas has claimed the top spot with 67.2% of homes currently underwater. That is a troublesome number. Mortgage borrowers who put quite a bit of money down could still be okay here in Southern Nevada, at worst perhaps 5 to 10% upside down. That should make them eligible for the latest housing rescue plan, the Making Home Affordable one, where refinance can be done up to 105% of the home's value. As long as other important criteria is also met.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada existing homes sold well in April

There is some optimism in the air that the Las Vegas housing market is hitting bottom. At long last. Perhaps. It’s still too early to go into any definitive announcements about that, though. The patient’s vital signs do remain quite mixed, that’s why.

Anyway, 3,198 single-family homes were closed in April, as was reported by GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. In the year-to-year comparison that comes to a big jump of over 78% and on a month-to-month basis it translates into a solid 7% gain from March. These numbers warm a lot of hearts in the desert valley. Downright affordable prices are drawing scores of buyers to the real estate bazaar here, amply bolstered by still low-flying mortgage interest rates.

On the other hand, the median price tumbled further to $141,720, a painful drop of almost 40% from a year ago. Bank REOs, or real estate owned, continue to dominate listings, comprising nearly 80% of last month’s sales. The lenders hard-hitting marketing tactics are pushing prices down. It of course is a buyer’s gain, but not so for a seller or a homeowner both of whom likely at one point sat on a nice cushion of equity.

The inventory has remained largely unchanged for months. The MLS calculates that in April there were 22,112 homes in it, a slight decline from March, but it still is rather high. And it hasn’t shown any continuous trend downward despite the steadily rising sales. Much of the Las Vegas real estate marketplace is probably glued on this particular figure, anxiously waiting for it to start sliding south.

That is one of the key pre-requisites for a viable housing turnaround.

In the photo Silverstone Ranch, Las Vegas, and second green on Valley Course.

Mountain's Edge in Las Vegas crowned as best-selling master-planned community

Who would have thought such a list even existed in this housing market? Especially since the new home segment is having major trouble in moving inventory almost everywhere, including here in Southern Nevada. But it’s true. Robert Charles Lesser & Co., a real estate advisory firm, is behind the study that keeps track of home sales in master-planned communities nationwide and then ranks them.

Mountain’s Edge claimed the top spot on the list with 879 houses sold in 2008, although overall sales there went down by 49%. It’s somewhat surprising that even that many properties were closed there considering all the overbuilding Las Vegas has seen and the turmoil in the mortgage and financial industries. Their incentives must’ve worked because new homes prices generally aren’t competitive with the resale sector.

The number two slot went to Cinco Ranch in Houston, number three to The Woodlands in Houston and number four to Providence, also located in Las Vegas. Notable here is that both Mountain’s Edge and Providence are developed by Focus Property Group, a major builder in the area. Despite being reasonably successful with these two projects Focus has also suffered setbacks in a couple of other local undertakings. But who hasn’t in this distressed market.

Usually the perennial heavyweight on this list has been Summerlin located here in Las Vegas. In fact, it has occupied the very peak of it for years on end and now, surprisingly, it can’t be found on it at all. Because The Howard Hughes Corp., Summerlin’s developer, failed to send in its sales figures. The list creator should consider other factors besides sales to arrive at its conclusions, argues the company. That’s why. Well, maybe they just couldn’t stomach being beaten by a local competitor this time around.

Anyway, Mountain’s Edge, way to go in a tough market.

Las Vegas real estate market getting demand help, from vulture funds

The numbers are still way too high. Southern Nevada resale home inventory, according to the local MLS, continues to hover up there where no one wants to see it. It has been well over 20,000 for months. Much of it has to do with the high mortgage foreclosure rates here that seem to be marching along unrestrained, month after month.

The bottom line is, the demand side is still too weak. Low home loan interest rates have been a big help and the multitude of government incentives are also weighing positively in. But that's not enough. To change the housing market dynamics in Las Vegas more qualified buyers are needed.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

Southern Nevada new home sales anemic in March

It sure isn’t pretty. Las Vegas home builders have a hard time finding buyers for their product, even with decent incentives like discounted mortgage rates and upgrade packages. It obviously is disheartening for them to watch the resale segment, specifically the lower end of it, crank out contract after contract into escrow.

Home Builders Research, a Las Vegas industry observer, says that there were 491 new home sales in March, which adds up to 1,132 for the year’s first quarter. That is a 61% drop from last year. So, the bleeding continues and the end to that appears to be far away.

Namely because the new product line is priced way above what the existing ones go for. The median new home price in March was a lofty $220,000, a decline of 21% from March of 2008. But when it is compared to the median resale price of only $134,900, the message is clear. The separation is huge, making the builder inventory really hard to move.

It is actually surprising that builders managed to sell even as many as 491 new homes this past month. The attractive incentives might be behind most of that. Since it seems that mortgage foreclosures keep piling up for at least another few months in Sin City, bank REO, or real estate owned, lists will balloon further and these properties are then sold at serious discounts that will in turn maintain the price gap between the two competing market segments.

Therefore, new home sales future likely will remain quite bleak. Proof of that is that only 233 building permits were taken in March, totaling 551 for the first quarter. This is a decrease of 51% from the same time last year.

Summerlin mid-rise condo development back on track

These types of news items are rare today. Vegas real estate has been wallowing in a terrible slump for a while, longer than many would like to admit. Lately, though, it has shown some promising signs that it still does have a pulse. Record-low mortgage interest rates have kept it in the game, as have steadily declining home values. The best action right now in Las Vegas is in the lower end of the market sector where many first-time buyers and smart investors are having a field day.

And then there is a surprise revelation for all Southern Nevada housing experts that a luxury condo project in Summerlin is back in business. Developer's bankruptcy had Mira Villa construction brought to a standstill in early 2008 when it was up to 90% complete. Three banks involved in the project have now agreed to provide the needed funding to complete the first phase of a total of 113 units there, as was reported by Nexus 30, the company responsible for its marketing and sales.

Please click on the link to read the entire blog.

LV high on national list for bargain properties

It's not easy but Las Vegas is doing all it can to turn the tide on the bad hand it has been dealt over the past few years regarding the real estate market. It has steadily occupied high rankings on many mortgage- and housing-related lists that no one really wants to be on. But now Sin City is on one that is going make it look a little better. And give everyone in Southern Nevada real hope as far as the future of the market goes.

The Top 10 Bargain Markets list is out and Las Vegas is third on it. FHFA, or Federal Housing Finance Agency, that collects housing data on 292 metropolitan areas is behind the report. And it's easy to see why Vegas ranks so high. Mortgage foreclosures are the big thing, casting its long shadow over the entire desert landscape. Despite their early resistance banks are now pricing REOs, or real estate owned, wherever they have to in order to move them. That tactic has yanked values all the way down to the levels of around 2002. That's when a solid 3-bed, 2-bath single-family home in a nice neighborhood could be bought for well under $200,000.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Las Vegas resales posted solid increase in March

The spring real estate season in Southern Nevada kicked off nicely last month, with existing home sales again showing strong numbers. That has been the direction of this segment of the market for a long stretch now.

All in all, 2,980 single-family houses were sold then that translates to a serious jump of 30% from February, as was reported by Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, or GLVAR. The figure is double of that from March of 2008. As has been the pattern lately, distressed sales ruled the statistics and most of them were in the lower end of the market where first-time buyers and investors excitedly grabbed affordably-priced property.

Please click on the link to read the entire article. In the picture Silverstone Golf Club.

Canadians attracted to Vegas real estate

Las Vegas housing market has recently been through plenty of agony. Despite low mortgage interest rates sales of single-family houses, condos and townhomes have been slow, especially in the middle and upper ends of the price scale. Sinking values have drawn first-time buyers and real estate investors to shift through the bulging inventory in the lower end of the marketplace and grab property, often foreclosures, at huge discounts. Southern Nevada's real estate supply is still way too high and needs to come down further to give the market a chance for recovery.

One group that has been moderately active in the past on Sin City's real estate scene is the Canadians and they are now returning to take a look at what's going on. Prices have receded all the way to the early-decade levels, making them very competitive with those in the Phoenix area where Canadians have historically bought more vacation homes than here. Lower pricing in Arizona has long been the main attraction for them, but it appears the gap is fast closing.

Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Mortgage rates drop again

The Primary Mortgage Market Survey slipped lower again for 30-year fixed, recording 4.85% for the week. This Freddie Mac's index averaged 5.85% at the same time last year. Federal Reserve's recent announcement that it'll keep buying Treasury paper for the foreseeable future pushed bond yields down, causing mortgage rates to follow suit.

Southern Nevada resales a bright spot in February housing update

Despite the traditionally slow stretch of the real estate season Las Vegas existing homes sales showed the same workmanlike consistency they have been doing for months. Namely that the stats are way better from the same month one year ago, as was reported by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, or GLVAR.

2,288 homes were sold last month, which adds up to a 108% jump from February of 2008. And to stay on the positive track, it amounts to a 2.9% increase from January. These are the types of figures that eventually will lift the real estate market here in Las Vegas up from the dark place. Specifically, when the month-to-month improvement turns into a more or less permanent trend, then there is reason to say “I’m a believer.”

The other positive development comes from the inventory sector. It slipped to 22,142, down 1.6% from January. If it can tiptoe along this downward slope, although not breath-taking by any means, that would start changing the supply-demand dynamics in the right direction.

And last, but not least. The median home price again took it to the mid section, this time by 2.7%, dropping to $155,603 from January’s $160,000. Even though sales are gradually picking up values continue to suffer under the tremendous pressure from bank REOs entering the Las Vegas real estate market. The price is off about 37% from last year and if this goes on unabated through the next twelve months, that comes to another 30% drop. Now, that can only happen if this exact pattern repeats itself.

For comparison's sake, the median price in Sin City reached $315,000 in June 2006, an all-time peak, according to GLVAR, and now it settled at $155,603. That makes any market observer take several deep breaths for proper digestion of this data.

The direction of foreclosure filings in Southern Nevada will play, at least in the near future, a key role in the price movement.

LV housing market ready for a recovery?

That would be great. But will it actually happen any time soon? Difficult to say.

Lawrence Yun, the chief economist for NAR, or the National Association for Realtors, thinks it is just around the corner. In his opinion it could kick off in the latter half of this year. He was in town to speak to the group's Rocky Mountain Regional Conference and said that Las Vegas will be in the forefront of the upcoming turnaround.

Prices here have plunged to levels that make home buying very affordable again, like it was way back when. Mortgage interest rates remain low, drawing borrowers to fill home loan applications and buying homes. These are the two principal reasons to the currently strong resale market in Southern Nevada, and have obviously favorably impressed Mr. Yun.

Click on the link to read the entire article.

Mortgage interest rates remain very affordable

Freddie Mac's index moved a bit higher this week for 30-year fixed, stopping at 5.07%. Last year this time the PMMS averaged a lofty 6.24%. Washington is actively buying mortgage-backed bonds that keeps demand solid and is a direct reflection on these attractive rates.

LV headline turns heads

This can't be true? In the current reeling housing market that makes mortgage approvals a serious mental and physical exercise and closed real estate transactions an endurance test it was hard to accept what the Review-Journal headline actually said. But there it was, loud and clear. "Foreclosures in Las Vegas drop in January."

Southern Nevada residents are nowadays used to reading headlines that talk about how they are climbing, not dropping. Anything that suggests upward movement. The statement is accurate, however. Foreclosures.com is behind the statistic disclosing that Las Vegas numbers decreased about 20% in January from December, or from 3,283 to 2,609. Very nice improvement indeed after so many months of adverse results.

Photo by Tom Hilton, Red Rock Canyon

Las Vegas existing home sales stay strong in January

The familiar pattern keeps more or less repeating itself when it comes to monthly Southern Nevada real estate numbers. In essence, there are some good news and then some less than good news. One way of putting is that the Las Vegas housing market is simply trying to find its bearings.

As usual, GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, is providing a detailed look at what happened in January in the local housing sector. Altogether 2,224 single-family houses were closed, amounting to a stellar 126% jump from the year ago figure. That trend has been evident for quite some time now and it does instill some optimism that the shredded market is working hard to right itself. As a caution, the sales are about 11% less than in December, so the slight decline is worth keeping in mind. Perhaps it's temporary, with people just taking the frigid month, believe me Vegas can be cold in January, off from looking at houses or are waiting to see what the Obama administration will do about providing fresh home buyer assistance.

Mortgage workouts should have more kick

As foreclosure numbers keep growing nationwide banks are facing more pressure to make home loan modifications, or workouts, more meaningful. Up to now their efforts have mostly been half measures from the homeowners's perspective, backed by recent stats that around half of modified home loans re-default within six months. That surely isn't helping the ravaged real estate market to recover, something everyone ought to strive for, and thus help the entire economy get back on track.

The companies operating between distressed homeowners and the investors who have bought their underlying mortgages usually are the servicing firms. They are the key players, work under contract for the investors and naturally first look for what's good for them. And that means modifying as little as possible. For loan modifications to have more bite the contract terms need to be adjusted or otherwise the whole exercise is largely wasted. Foreclosures would keep rising, home values head further south and at the end the investors would suffer even bigger losses when their deeply discounted, foreclosed property is at last disposed of.

To read the entire article, please click on the link.

Mortgage rates slip lower

The Primary Mortgage Market Survey averaged 5.10% this week for a 30-year fixed home loan product. This Freddie Mac index closed at 5.68% at the same time a year ago. It was a minor adjustment down from a week before, mirroring a weak economy and the government's involvement in buying mortgage-backed securities.

Photo by RyanGWU82

LV resales increase nicely in December

The latest report from the Las Vegas real estate market gives the reader a warm feeling, at least for now. It was somewhat surprising as the winter months tend to slow down a bit. Regardless, local housing observers and home buyers are doing flips over the encouraging turn of events.

In its December wrap-up GLVAR, or Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, reveals that there were 2,498 existing single-family homes sold, amounting to a strong 184% jump from December of 2007. In addition, this beats November's figure of 2,183 by 315 houses closed. Much of the activity was generated by real estate investors who now see good value in Southern Nevada and aren't afraid to make a move. Home buyers, on the other hand, remain somewhat cautious, obviously hoping that prices will fall even further before signing anything. After all, it's their own hard-earned money they would have to use to pay off the mortgage.

Southern Nevada builders exploring $100 per square foot homes

Las Vegas existing home sales are dominated by foreclosures today, something like 70% of them are REOs, or real estate owned. Banks are now in a hurry to unload the steady stream of inventory and to do that they are pricing the homes aggressively. The lower end of the resale market has been relatively busy because of that but it has also shouldered the new home sector mostly out of the picture, as it has been slow in reacting to the large drop in prices. That is now changing, however.

$100 per square foot, or more, for any home was considered expensive in Las Vegas before the boom years and became kind of a psychological benchmark at the time. Then prices zoomed right through it as the market turned sizzling hot and in this contraction are now heading right back toward a more realistic standard. To read the entire article please click on the link.

Mortgage industry facing a new challenge

The federal government has been really aggressive in the past several months in infusing money into the banking system in order to turn the tide on the still deteriorating real estate market. One of the key goals of this was to assist homeowners facing foreclosure find a way out of their mortgage payment problems. The capital, however, was given to the banks in good faith, without enforceable regulations to make sure they would comply.

Sure enough, it appears that many lenders have found far better uses for the money than help struggling borrowers. For one, it's nice to get the taxpayer to take care of a balance sheet that sags under the weight of under-performing mortgages, acquired without careful analysis of their soundness. Hoarding cash also gives them the opportunity to grab a failing financial institution or two when nobody is looking. There are many other ways to make money work. Please click on the link to read the entire article.

Home loan interest rates very attractive

Freddie Mac's weekly average reached its lowest point ever, stopping at 5.10% for 30-year fixed. At this time last year the Primary Mortgage Market Survey recorded a 6.07%. This represents a ninth consecutive week of falling rates, spurring a healthy increase in mortgage applications for refinance and purchase.