07-09 Market Report

Las Vegas Real Estate Market Report by Forrest Barbee (Corporate Broker)

“Classic Closings” Climbing

The availability of both bank-owned and short sale listings continue to decline even as demand remains strong in the market. REO listings are hovering around 2700 available listings in the Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, and Henderson areas while available short sale listings have declined to 5000. REO closings in July accounted for 72% of all single family residential (SFR) sales; that is down from 80% a few short months ago. Short sales transactions made up over 10% of July sales. But the real story that may get lost in the reporting of July statistics is the significant rise in “Classic Closings”! Traditional sellers accounted for 17.5% of all SFR sales last month. That means that over 650 closings were NOT a result of a bank owned sale or short sale!

Here is a price breakdown of all currently available properties in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.

Let’s download the July 2009 Greater Las Vegas Market Stats for Single Family Residences listed under one million dollars. Please note the “Available Homes” count continues to drop as the closing remain high at near record breaking levels. This inventory drop combined with the increased sales activity sent the one month absorbtion rate to 45%. The overwhelming demand for homes under $100,000 has generated unusually high levels that activity with buyers coming in from everywhere to pick up a bargain. The weekend buyer activity in Las Vegas gives me some idea of what the 1849 Gold Rush must have looked like!

Here is a breakdown of by price point as to how the REO properties sold in June:

July closings sold according to the following terms:

Sold Term Average Sale Price

Cash 38%
Conv 24%
FHA 31%
VA 6%

Market activity and closed units remain red hot with nearly 20% of all short sale transactions closing; this suggests that these have become more efficient transactions even if they continue to take a long time to close. However, keep in mind that over 17% of closing are of the ”Classic” variety! Perhaps it’s time to seriously consider building up your listing inventory with traditional listings that are priced correctly and can generate activity and sales. Maybe it’s time to go back to farming neighborhoods that have homes with equity that can now compete well in this market - especially given the fact that there is less than a one months supply of available REO inventory!!