Las Vegas Sun NewsLas Vegas home prices should continue to rise, firm projects
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A “for sale” sign is displayed outside a foreclosed home near Hacienda Avenue and Jones Boulevard on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011.
Tuesday
10 July 2012
9 a.m.
Las Vegas-area home prices should continue increasing through the end of the year, a real estate data tracking firm reported Tuesday.
After struggling during the recession with steep price declines, the Las Vegas area saw prices increase 4.7 percent from the first quarter of this year through the second quarter, Clear Capital reported.
The Truckee, Calif., firm said Las Vegas-area prices are expected to rise 9.3 percent by the end of the year.
That ranks Las Vegas No. 3 on the Clear Capital projected price-appreciation list, behind Seattle and Phoenix.
A slowdown in banks putting foreclosed homes on the market helped push Las Vegas-area prices up in June, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported separately.
The Realtors said the median single-family price was $131,785, up 3 percent from $128,000 in May and up 5.9 percent from a year ago. This was the fifth consecutive month that median home prices increased locally, the Realtors said.
They said that with the tightening supply of homes, condominiums and townhomes for sale, sales fell to 3,945 units in June. Single-family home sales fell 5.8 percent from May and 11.4 percent from June 2011, the GLVAR reported.
Nationwide, prices were up 1.7 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis and are expected to rise another 1.7 percent through the end of the year, Clear Capital said.
“June home price trends provided further evidence that housing has turned the corner, with the momentum of the recovery picking up speed,” Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital, said in a statement.
“The current strength in housing fundamentals remains vulnerable to domestic and global economic challenges,” Villacorta cautioned.
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Another cruel story inflicted on the citizens of Las Vegas. It will be a very long time before anything comes back considering the powers that be in this town and the state of the economy.
Seriously, how many times am i going to have to read these stories about the housing market that only include the positive facts about the industry???
"A slowdown in banks putting foreclosed homes on the market helped push Las Vegas-area prices up in June, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported separately."
- Nobody finds this peculiar? The real question should be how many homes are in default? How many are in technical foreclosure? So the bank is slowing the flow from the dam, that doesn't mean much, just that they are keeping prices inflated.
""June home price trends provided further evidence that housing has turned the corner, with the momentum of the recovery picking up speed," Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital, said in a statement."
- Anyone know why June home price trends are showing evidence of this...because its summer. Housing always goes up during summer because of no school. It's the best time for families to move, its a historic pattern!!!!
""The current strength in housing fundamentals remains vulnerable to domestic and global economic challenges," Villacorta cautioned."
- Oh there it is, just a sliver of doubt yet no real information or facts to show why, because that might hurt the housing industry's circlejerk.....
Oh gawd! These projectionists are such brainiacs! Other than reading it for the sake of humor does anyone believe this stuff?
There isn't a sober economists out there that will claim anything close to what these guys are saying.
These are stupid predictions made by the same group that never saw the collapse. Somehow they can see prices rising but have no clue they are are falling?...thru the floor. The Sun should not even be publishing these articles. 4 nitwits sitting in an office in Truckee looking for a news headline...along comes the Sun to give it to them.
I guess if you cry wolf enough times....
Unfortunately, too many readers give weight to the comments below articles such as this one as if the comments have actual validity. Just because you write something as a comment, doesn't make it true.
I'm not here to start a war but I would like to be the voice of reason. I am an active Las Vegas Realtor who has helped distressed homeowners as well as buyers (both owner occupants and investors.) I work in this market 7 days a week and if you're unsure about certain facts or data, feel free to ask me for the answers and I'll happily oblige.
If you've been following the news of Nevada since last October, you will know that AB284 effectively stopped the banks from foreclosing here. So the statement "the bank is slowing the flow from the dam" is not true - far from it.
Another inaccurate statement "Housing always goes up during summer because of no school." - sorry - wrong. Summer is the worst time for real estate sales due to the high temperatures and lack of potential buyers, in general.
The reason that prices have gone up is due to the incredibly low level of inventory we have versus the insatiable demand we're experiencing.
Buyers are desperate now to own something in their price range with the features and amenities they want and need. We have 20 to 30 offers on homes with buyers willing to pay above appraised value. Is that a good thing? Not necessarily, but it is what it is.
Because the bank's hands are tied and they're unable to foreclose, they are incentivizing distressed homeowners to sell now, with little to no paperwork and paying them $5,000 to $30,000 (Bank of America, specifically) to short sale their homes. This goes hand in hand with the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act which currently expires at the end of 2012.
These are real facts, real information and the truth is that fair market sellers (those with equity in their homes and there are many folks with equity) are now realizing 10% increases in the profit from the sale of their homes. Why? Because the market is desperate for inventory.
So, if you're contemplating the sale of your home, whether as a short sale or fair market, there really is no better time than now. I can provide detailed statistics to back up every statement I make, as well as the GLVAR and NAR.
I know homeowners are upset that their values have dropped 60% from the height of the market, we've all been affected. The truth is that the market changes every day and you have to take your head out of the sand and address the reality of today.
The real estate community is not the enemy, the media (for the most part) is accurate in the reporting of the facts. I think it's important to ask questions and make sure you know the truth as it pertains to your situation. Reader's comments need to be taken with a grain of salt, at best.
and if you look on Zillow in the same area, most houses are below 100K. Basic tenant of making a sale is to establish product urgency..... i.e., the price will go up so buy now. Or inventory is being reduces which will allow us to raise our prices. Las Vegas contracted, the available jobs also contracted. Now we have enough people to fill current positions, no major expansions on the strip will be completed for 4 more year....we have no industry, so where are these houses going, nowhere.......just the spin doctors making us THINK there is a shortage.
I live in two cities and just happen to be dating a realtor. In the other city (a bit cooler than Vegas right now) the summer IS the best time to try to sell your house, because families with children are moving so as to not interrupt school. The very worst time of year is from just before Thanksgiving to New Years. In other states, the underwriters are denying 50% of loans even after the lender issues an approval letter. Mostly just a few days before closing. In fact a major bank near my other home is being sued for that very reason. If I had to guess, I would say that the more homes they stop from selling the more they can foreclose on and be reimbursed by the feds for the loss.
Vegas is a different situation though. With prices so low, investors are scooping up homes as fast as they can. Competition is creating bidding wars between investors and the general public. This WILL eventually create a housing shortage as people (other than investors) that want to buy will need to build, creating another albeit smaller building boom. Home prices will rise, slowly, as the builders begin to ramp up production (In case you hadn't noticed, building permits are up, and I see lots of new homes being started in my neighborhood). Eventually rental prices will fall due to competition from the glut.
clear capital lacks any credibility. they're a little appraisal management company located in a basement in a house in tahoe.
I had a retort from a REALtorfacts... i think was their name. Anyways, they went on to talk about how there isn't a shadow inventory, and generally rebute my first post. However there is plenty of evidence that the banks are actively trying to increase pricing in the market.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/07/r...
I understand the logic of "everything is coming up roses" by realtors, it's their livelyhood that depends on a rising housing market. I just dislike how we keep being told things are getting better even when the bulk of the data suggests otherwise and predicts a much longer road out of this ditch.