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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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