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.

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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."

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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.

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