Las Vegas Housing Market. Bottom Yet?

I am Stuart Sheinfeld a realtor in Las Vegas. With the increase of short sales, foreclosures, oil prices, unemployment and the decreasing of the US dollar; when will we start to see a turn in this slumping economy?

New-home sales in Las Vegas have been consistently low over the past six months and appear to have possibly reached the bottom of this dreaded bear market.

There were 922 recorded escrow closings for new homes in June, bringing the total for the first half of the year to 5,747, a 45.1 percent decrease from a year ago.

Taking out 114 high-rise and mid-rise condos and 31 apartment conversions, sales of traditional single-family detached homes totaled 777, the sixth straight month under 1,000. The high mark of 3,233 came in June 2006.

Is this flat trend in new-home closing going to continue through 2009?

The median price of all new-home products sold in June was $269,900, a decline of $54,000, or 16.7 percent, from the same month a year ago. ".

New-home permits increased for the fourth straight month to 884 in June, but the year-to-date total is down 61 percent to 5,653.

Resale activity is picking up, topping 2,000 for the third consecutive month and increasing for the sixth straight month to 2,731 in June. The 12,500 existing-home sales through the first six months is down 15.9 percent from a year ago.

About 65 percent of resale closings in June were real estate-owned or bank-owned homes, according to data from the Multiple Listing Service.

About 26 percent of available inventory in Las Vegas, or 5,800 units, are listed as short sales. Short sales must be approved by the bank; they can take up to six months to close escrow. Sellers must prove financial hardship from unforeseen circumstances such as divorce, illness or loss of employment.

The median resale price in June was $218,000, a decline of $62,000, or 22.2 percent, from a year ago.

With 15 stalled or canceled commercial projects littering the Vegas valley, this takes a lot of unnecessary inventory off the market. Can this help our slumping market?

For more information on the Las Vegas real estate mark please contact Stuart Sheinfeld at www.elitevegasrealestate.com