Friday Figures: Las Vegas Real Estate Report for 8/6/2010

Glad you could join me for Friday Figures! All information from the GLVAR MLS system. Here’s what you and your Realtor need to know before touring, listing, or making a purchase offer in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend.

Summary: Once more, available units are up. Now we have 13496 properties available, compared to 12038 at the beginning of last month. An interesting twist (but certainly no trend) is a very slight drop in the number of bank owned homes available! The number of contingent and pending units continues its downward trend, but for now remains over 14,000. Within 2 weeks we should see a more “normal” market that has more units under contract than available. More good news on this front is that we’re down to 9251 contingent short sales waiting for bank approval. While it is true that sometimes the bank is saying no, at least there is progress working through the backlog.

Other Information: Fannie Mae lost over $3,000,000,000 (that’s $3 billion, or $3000 million!) last quarter, so they are asking for more government aid. There is some noise that they may be pressured to forgive a lot of mortgage debt, but it is likely nothing but noise. Some experts suggest that new home prices are likely to fall another 5% this year (hopefully leveling off and/or starting to rise next year) to compete with distressed sales of existing homes. Mortgage rates hit yet another new low (some people think super low interest rates in general are actually a bad thing from a long term housing price standpoint). One last thing: if you have moved out in preparation for selling your home — or are thinking about it — please call your insurance agent to make sure your property will be covered! Many homeowners policies only cover occupied properties!

Available Listings: There are 10925 single family homes (up), with a median price of $159,000 (down), $83 per square foot (unchanged), with median time on market of 75 days (up). In addition, there are 2571 condominiums and townhomes (up), with a median price of $74,500 (unchanged), $66 per square foot (unchanged), and median time on market of 70 days (unchanged). At the beginning of July, we had 9690 single family homes with a median price of $164,900, $85 per square foot, median time on market of 69 days, and 2338 condominiums and townhomes, with a median price of $75,000, $67 per square foot, and median time on market of 60 days.

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 6025 short sales (up) and 2773 bank-owned properties (down). Median price for a short sale is $125,000 (unchanged); median price on a bank-owned home is $119,900 (unchanged). All short sale listings must be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 4660 non-distressed properties for sale (up) had a median price of $208,450 (down). While many of the non-distressed properties are traditional sellers, many others were purchased fairly recently as short sale or bank owned, and then renovated by investors. Last month we had 4998 short sales, 2525 bank-owned properties, and 4468 non-distressed properties available. Median prices were $128,900, $122,900, and $217,970 respectively.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 165 under $50,000; 1881 between $50,000-$100,000; 5469 between $100,000-$200,000; 2269 between $200,000-$400,000; 585 between $400,000-$700,000; 250 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 469 over $1,000,000. In July, it was 157 under $50,000; 1466 between $50,000-$100,000; 4748 between $100,000-$200,000; 2162 between $200,000-$400,000; 593 between $400,000-$700,000; 239 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 475 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 576 under $50,000; 1339 between $50,000-$100,000; 583 between $100,000-$200,000; 102 between $200,000-$400,000; 20 between $400,000-$700,000; 4 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 3 over $1,000,000. These figures exclude high-rise communities for technical reasons. The figures from last month were 486 under $50,000; 1206 between $50,000-$100,000; 552 between $100,000-$200,000; 118 between $200,000-$400,000; 18 between $400,000-$700,000; 4 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 2 over $1,000,000. What an amazing jump in condos under $50,000! This should be an opportunity for a motivated cash investor with patience.

Contingent and Pending listings: Of the 14030 properties in the process of being purchased (down), 11293 are single family homes with median price of $135,000 (unchanged); 2738 are condominiums or townhomes with median price of $65,000 (unchanged). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of the total, 9974 were short sale (down), 2592 were bank owned (down), and 1446 were non-distressed sales (down). At the beginning of July we had 14857 contingent and pending properties; 10831 were short sale, 2563 were bank owned, and 1452 were non-distressed sales.

Recently sold: 842 properties closed in the last week, 3613 in the last 30 days, and 25596 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 28 days (up, time on market including the contingent period was 102 days). Median sales price was $123,000 (down); median list price was $124,900 (down). Short sales accounted for 1107 of them, there were 1590 bank owned properties, and 912 non-distressed sales. Last month, median sales price was $126,000 and median list price was $125,900.

Rentals: 395` homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system (down by 1). Median square footage of these units is 1370 and median rent is $1100. There are 734 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2067 leases signed in the last 30 days (up) with median rent of $1150 and median square footage of 1533.

Need more information or help with your real estate needs? Call me today at 702-727-7842 or email bmagnus@bridgetmagnus.com. Based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS Multiple Listing Service for the date specified above. This article was written and copyright by Bridget Magnus, and is her sole property.