Las Vegas housing prices were flat last month as the market slows down from its meteoric recovery from the recession.
The median sales price of single-family homes in August was $200,000, same as July but up 9.9 percent from a year ago, according to a new report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
That marks a drastic contrast to the past year or so, when prices regularly were up 25 to 30 percent year-over-year, one of the fastest growth rates in the country. The last time prices rose less than 10 percent year-to-year was in July 2012.
The GLVAR tracks sales on its listing service, where the vast majority of deals involve previously owned homes.
“It was only a matter of time before we stopped seeing home prices rise by double-digit percentages,” GLVAR President Heidi Kasama said in the report.
The slowdown comes as would-be buyers increasingly ignore listings. By the end of August, 7,788 single-family homes were listed without offers, up 38.8 percent from a year ago, the GLVAR reported.
Overall, 2,567 single-family homes were sold last month through the GLVAR’s listing service, down 12.8 percent from a year earlier.
Housing prices, which plunged during the recession, soared the past two years as investors bought cheap homes in bulk to turn into rentals. But faced with rising prices they helped create, investors have been scaling back on local purchases in recent months. And many locals, hoping to cash in on the recent upswing, have been overpricing their homes and refusing to budge.