Las Vegas Sun NewsLas Vegas real estate market faces gloomy future, panelists say
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Participants at a panel discussion on the effects of the recession on Las Vegas-area real estate include, from left, Devin Reiss, a Realtor and past president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors; Nasser Daneshvary, director of the Lied Institute of Real Estate Studies at UNLV, and Larry Murphy, presdent of the housing data firm SalesTraq.
Tuesday
25 October 2011
2 a.m.
A "for sale" sign is displayed outside a foreclosed home near Hacienda Avenue and Jones Boulevard on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011.
VEGAS INC coverage
A panel of real estate analysts has offered another grim outlook of the Las Vegas Valley residential real estate market, which is proving attractive to cash-rich investors and home buyers who had been priced out of the market for years.
Panel members said housing prices could return to 2002-03 levels within a decade, but only if the market would begin steadily producing an annual appreciation rate of 3 percent. Meanwhile, current sales volume for residential units is being driven by cash-rich investors snapping up homes, 80 percent of which are vacant.
Seventy-five percent of all residential resales are distressed, or in some state of foreclosure. Fifty percent of those homes are bank-owned.
“The distressed properties define the market today,” said housing analyst Larry Murphy of Las Vegas-based SalesTraq, who predicted the market would continue “bouncing along bottom several more years.”
Murphy joined Realtor Devin Reiss of Coldwell Bank Premier Realty and Nasser Daneshvary, director of UNLV’s Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies, to discuss residential market trends during a panel discussion sponsored by VEGAS INC. A group of 40 Realtors and business executives attended the breakfast gathering Friday at P.J. Clarke's at The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.
The numbers remain stunning for even the most experienced market watchers: 5,500 new homes were sold in the region last year, for instance, compared with 36,000 new units five years ago at the height of the housing bubble. The median price for a new home hovers at $200,000, down from about $320,000 in 2006. The median price of a resold home sits at $100,000, down from about $280,000. Four years earlier, both new and used homes hovered around the $200,000 mark.
“We’re seeing folks who were priced out (of the market) now priced in,” Reiss noted.
Despite tight mortgage markets, some potential buyers are arranging financing, although the money comes with caveats. A significant percentage of foreclosed homes require repairs before financing can be arranged. Assessors, many of whom since have been criticized for questionable practices during the boom years, are reluctant to value homes at desired levels. Potential buyers plagued by credit troubles often fail to meet lending requirements, while demands for down payments sometimes approaching 50 percent of the purchase price of a unit have further thinned the market of potential buyers.
Yet, it’s those cash-rich investors — domestic and foreign — who continue to drive sales of about 4,000 units per month, Murphy noted. “Sales velocity is tremendous ... cutting through toxic inventory ... (amid a) continued depression in prices.”
Meantime, an all-too-familiar dilemma continues for a significant percentage of the region’s population, with many pondering whether to continue to pay their mortgages or simply walk away from homes on which they owe more than the units are worth. An estimated 100,000 homes have been foreclosed upon within Southern Nevada during the past four years. This year has experienced a slight decline in the foreclosure rate, with lenders taking action on 20,000 homes.
“Somebody in this room has asked ... ‘Should I sit tight and do nothing or should I do something?’ ” Murphy said. “A lot of people are saying this is not a moral decision. This is a business decision.”
Days before President Barack Obama used a Las Vegas neighborhood to illustrate the need for a new program providing aid to homeowners who are underwater in their mortgages, the panel members agreed Obama’s previous mortgage relief program failed to grasp the depth of the local housing market meltdown and provided little help to tens of thousands of homeowners. Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has spoken in recent days of simply letting the marketplace resolve the problem.
“This is a complex problem, and it can’t be solved with sound bites or a cute headline,” Murphy noted.
Daneshvary said that what has been largely missing, particularly when it comes to the news media’s coverage of the issue, is an in-depth analysis of what caused the housing collapse — readily available mortgages to buyers who lacked the necessary income, inflated home assessments, record low interest rates, Realtors and mortgage brokers who drove sales simply to earn commissions, homebuyers who agreed to loans they could not afford, lenders who repackaged those loans into collateralized debt obligations that were overvalued by the major credit ratings agencies and then sold to foreign investors, who assumed record financial losses, driving much of the world financial crisis and the nearly four-year recession.
Nonetheless, Reiss, a true salesman, offered a pitch when asked what he would say to a residential real estate investor with lots of cash: “Get in my car. I have a place to show you.”
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Why doesn't the Las Vegas Sun do an in depth article on all these issues creating the housing bust? Where is the accountability for the collusion of real estate, builders, assessors, government and mortgage companies, banks and title companies? Media writes about people walking away and foreclosures but not about the combination of businesses which colluded to produce this mess. Want a Pulitzer? Write something with a little risk.
A lot of people fail to realize the implications of walking away and how it might affect them for the next 7 years and possibly beyond. There's no way to know what the repercussions will be. Can't get a car loan?, credit card limits reduced,? can't rent in your favored condo complex because of bad credit?, need more upfront money?, pay in full for this?, etc. The repercussions can go on and on and the problem is you have no way of knowing where and when or what circumstance it will happen. It's easy to say "business decision", but you have no idea what those next 7 years will do to you with shattered credit. Most look at the here and now until the realities of destroyed credit bite you for years and years.
Seriously? the problem was with the government. The banks lent the money, did the government secure it ,Did they allow the banks to loosen their lending ratios ?. In Canada our banks make sure you can pay your mortgage if they did what your banks did none of them would have jobs. To date our government has made sure the Banks greed is kept in check and although you think we are a socialist nation we still have to pay back our debt based on our earnings not aticipated inflation or we would have the same problems as the US. There are simple ratios to determine a mortgagees ability to pay Phoney apprasers and pushy realtors did not create the problem the banks knew exactly what those houses were worth and that the chances of repayment were poor, or zero in some cases they turned a blind eye, someone should ask why?. Your goverment wanted everyone to have a house whether they could afford it or not... Socilalism?. What amazes me is its five years later and the genral public is still wondering what happened? Scary for us Canadians to see a great Nation fall so quickly because of unchecked greed. Well maybe its checked now not sure? Blame your leaders ,they were suposed to protect you but they were bought off by wall street and socialist mentality voters ,now you think free healthcare is the answer sheesh .Find a leader who has the guts to change back to the pay as you go theory it seemed to work pretty well for you .Guarenteeing everyone the dream of free health care and home ownership with out paying for their own dream. Hows that working out ?
Comment removed by moderator. Personal Attack
@TomD1228...Are you speaking from experience?
I had a credit score of 740 when I stopped paying on my home in July of 2008 because the bank was unwilling to negotiate. After not paying for a year, my score dropped to 510..
Fast forward to today...Credit score back to 630..Out of 6 credit cards, one closed my account. Leased a brand new car six months ago with NO issue. Get credit card offers from AMEX, Visa, etc daily.
I also have qualified for home leases on two separate occasions since.
This whole notion that your credit is screwed for 7 years is so "old world" thinking. Fact is, if you take care of your other financial obligations and only have a foreclosure on your credit report, you are not viewed as negatively as you try to make it sound. Please stop giving advice when you don't know what you are talking about.
Anyone who is more than 50% upside down should absolutely walk away unless the bank is willing to reduce principal, period, end of story.
And save me any chatter about morally correct nonsense. The banks have the right to walk away from all of their bad investments and get a bailout, and I am not??? Keep smoking, old man.
@moohawk
You are exactly whats wrong in this country. Because someone else walked away it's OK for me to do it?
Truly sad. Pay your financial responsibilities. The bank was "unwilling" to just give me money is your complaint...LOL.
Walking away from your financial repsonsibilities WILL impact you down the road. Your car is probably registered under someone elses name.
B of A has to pay 8.5 billion for mortgage put-backs scam, Citigroup pays to 250 million to SEC in fines over mortgage scam, Goldman Sachs is negotiating settlement as we speak, what this tells you is that what took place was man made. However, those that worship corporations will never acknowledge or understand and those that are victims will only complain and follow the next corporate directive. When it comes to your financial situation understand the rules, don't just do what you are told.
Now get there and stack some cash!!!
If Las Vegas looses a significant population then even the investors will have to drop rental prices significantly. Investors will also be on the hook. If you're are upside down on your house you should look into a Short Sale. The Banks got bailed out due to the housing crisis and they are using the money for Executive Bonuses. They are further profiting from their foreclosure scheme. If your upside down and they are predicting in 10 years me may be up to 2003 value levels - work the numbers and do what is best for your family. Remember: Since Corporations are now people, you must also act like a corporation - in your best interests.
@TomD1228
Actually, my car is registered under my name and your point of view only confirms what I said in my previous post. Your logic is not only flawed and outdated, but it's just plain unintelligent. Please move back to Nebraska now.
I personally know someone who sold their house via a short sale (only because they were under water and wanted to move) and was able purchase/obtain a mortgage on another home within a year. It doesn't make sense. How can someone be rewarded like this? They were able to make the payments, but just wanted to move because of schools and the bank took a loss of $200k.
Thanks to republicans like our current pretend Governor, B. Sandoval, and our past pervert of a republican governor, Jim Gibbons, and our republican US Senators - the ex - pervert John Ensign - and the current drone - Dean Heller - NOT ONE THING has been done to help the real estate market. Thanks republicans for getting us into this mess and keeping us there.
The homes will need repair and upgrades, so another $20k is needed for flooring, appliances and paint as well as yard work and maybe roof work, especially in 10 years. Therefore the 3% appreciation a year is optimistic.