A flurry of new data is sending mixed messages about trends in the Las Vegas-area residential real estate market.
First, data provider CoreLogic of Santa Ana, Calif., reported that Las Vegas-area home prices in March fell 5.1 percent from March 2011.
The local market in March continued to be affected by distressed sales. Distressed sales include short sales — in which the bank allows a sale for less than what is owed on the mortgage — and homes that have been foreclosed on.
Excluding distressed sales, prices locally fell 2.3 percent in March vs. March 2011, CoreLogic said.
Second, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported the median price of single-family homes sold in April was $127,900, up 4 percent from March and up 2.3 percent from April 2011.
The median price of Las Vegas-area condominiums and townhomes sold in April was $59,900. That’s down 1.8 percent from $61,000 in March and down 0.2 percent from April 2011.
The Realtors’ data focuses on existing homes sold through the Realtors’ Multiple Listing Service. The GLVAR said prices rose as the number of listings fell, at least in part because of a new law increasing documentation requirements for foreclosures. This law is believed to have caused banks to slow their foreclosure pace and, in turn, reduced the number of bank-owned homes on the market.
The GLVAR said home, condo and townhome sales in April totaled 3,924 — down from 4,388 in March but up from 3,902 sales in April 2011.
Finally, mortgage data provider Fiserv Case-Shiller issued forecasts for Las Vegas projecting the following price changes for local homes:
• Second quarter 2011 vs. second quarter 2012 — down 15.9 percent.
• Second quarter 2012 vs. second quarter 2013 — down 1.8 percent.
• Fourth quarter 2011 vs. fourth quarter 2012 — down 7.5 percent.
• Fourth quarter 2012 vs. fourth quarter 2013 — down 3.3 percent.
The Fiserv projection for continued declines in Las Vegas prices compares to its projection for the nation of a 0.8 percent decline in prices comparing the fourth quarters of 2011 and 2012; and for prices to increase nationwide 4.2 percent in 2013.
The projected weakness in Las Vegas vs. the nation is not surprising, given the fact that Las Vegas ranks No. 8 in the nation among large metro areas in foreclosures and the area’s unemployment rate is still high at 12.1 percent. Las Vegas-area home prices, hit hard by the recession, are down a whopping 61.8 percent from their peak in the first quarter of 2006, Fiserv Case-Shiller data show. That compares to the national decline of 34.2 percent during the same period.
Nationwide, Fiserv Case-Shiller experts say the market appears to have bottomed in 2011 and is slowly recovering.
“The precipitous drop in home prices was an immediate cause of the last recession and the financial crisis. Falling home equity has cut into household consumption and has further constrained the economic recovery,” David Stiff, chief economist at data provider Fiserv Inc., said in a statement Tuesday. “However, very low prices have also started to draw in more buyers. As demand for houses ramps up, construction activity will increase and residential investment will begin to make a substantial contribution to the recovery and GDP (gross domestic product) overall.”