The LVR report shows that local home prices have not declined

A recent report by Las Vegas Realtors showed that local home prices rose slightly from the same time last year, despite a decline in the number of homes being sold.

The median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through the Multiple Listing Service during October was $449,000, LVR reported. That’s 2 percent more than the $440,000 in October 2022. Local home prices are still below the all-time record of $482,000 set in May 2022.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and homes sold in October was $275,500, up 3.6 percent from $266,000 in October 2022. That’s still below the all-time high of $287,000 in August.

Tight housing supply and recent high mortgage interest rates continue to shape the housing market and may overshadow seasonal trends, said Lee Barrett, president of LVR, a longtime local Realtor.

“We typically see home prices and sales dip a little with the weather as we head into the fall and winter,” Barrett said. “We will see how these traditional trends develop this year. High interest rates and a lack of housing supply play a larger role than in past years.

By the end of October, LVR reported 4,213 single-family homes for sale without any type of showing. This represents a decrease of 46.7 percent from the same time last year. Likewise, the 1,195 apartments and townhomes listed without offers in October represented a 32.7 percent decline from the previous year.

A total of 2,173 community homes, condos and townhomes were sold in October, LVR reported. Compared to October 2022, home sales decreased by 1.5 percent but increased by 1.3 percent for apartments and townhouses.

The pace of sales in October equates to more than two months’ supply of properties available for sale. This time last year, Southern Nevada had more than four months’ supply of housing.

Fewer homes were sold this year than in 2022, when LVR reported 35,584 total sales. This followed a record year for local existing home sales in 2021, when LVR reported 50,010 homes, condos, townhomes and other residential properties sold. This was the first time LVR had announced the sale of more than 50,000 local properties in a single year. It surpassed the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales.

During October, LVR found that 26.6% of all local real estate sales were cash transactions. This is up from 25.5 percent one year ago. This is significantly lower than the peak of cash buyers in May 2013 of 59.5%, indicating that investors were less active in the local housing market.

The number of distressed sales remains near historically low levels. Short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.4 percent of all existing local property sales in October, LVR reported. This compares with 0.3 percent one year ago, 0.3 percent two years ago, 0.9 percent three years ago, 2.4 percent four years ago, and 3 percent five years ago.

LVR statistics include activity through the end of October. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through the MLS, which does not take into account all newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners. Other highlights include:

■ The total value of local real estate transactions tracked by the MLS during October was approximately $923 million for townhomes and approximately $144 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to the previous year, the total sales value in October fell by 2.2 percent for houses, but increased by 11.2 percent for apartments and townhouses.

■ In October, 84.5 percent of all existing local homes and 85.4 percent of all existing condos and homes sold within 60 days. This compares to the previous year, when 78.6 percent of all existing local homes and 82.5 percent of all existing local condos and homes sold within 60 days.

Las Vegas Realtors – formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors – was founded in 1947 and provides its approximately 17,000 local members with education, training and political representation. The local representative of the National Association of Realtors, LVR is the largest professional organization in Southern Nevada. For more information, visit LasVegasRealtor.com.