Home Sales Soar 108.4% in worst hit area
March 11, 2009
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Signs are showing that the worst is behind us as SALES SOAR 108.4% in Las Vegas, the worst hit area in all of the USA. This report just out today.
This report just out today :
Home sales soar in LV as prices keep falling
Mar. 11, 2009
http://www.lvrj.com/business/41077927.html By HUBBLE SMITH
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Las Vegas home sales more than doubled in February from the same month a year
ago, although median home prices continue to sink as foreclosures dominate the
market, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
Realtors sold 2,288 single-family homes during the month, a 108.4 percent
increase from a year ago and up 2.9 percent from January. The median price of a
single-family home was $155,603, down 36.9 percent from a year ago.
The inventory of homes available for sale declined 1.6 percent to 22,142,
roughly a 10-month supply. The number exceeded 23,000 last summer.
February statistics are in line with trends seen over the past year or so,
Realtors association President Sue Naumann said.
Although she's encouraged to see more homes selling each month, she knows
declining prices are driving those sales. With bank-owned properties accounting
for about three-fourths of sales, foreclosures are still forcing home prices to
fall, Naumann said.
"With declining prices, it's even more of a buyer's market and I think buyers
are starting to notice this," she said. "Look at the sales numbers. I have six
different buyers coming from out of state. They're waiting to see what the
economic situation will bring."
She's showing 1,500-square-foot homes with three bedrooms, 21/2 baths and a
two-car garage in the range of $130,000 to $150,000. The $8,000 tax break for
first-time home buyers will help, but Naumann said she wishes it could be
extended to all buyers.
Condominium and townhome sales increased 166 percent in February to 442. The
median price dropped 50 percent from a year ago to $75,000.
Home sales peaked at 3,552 in June 2004 and the median price hit its highest
point of $315,000 in June 2006, according to the association's historical data.
Local research firm Applied Analysis showed 20,879 resale listings in the first
week of March, down 309 units from the previous week. During the past four
weeks, the number of listings declined by nearly 1,000 units.
The number of contingent and pending units, or units under contract for sale,
increased by 183 homes during the past week to 8,129 units, compared with 4,045
units a year ago. It's the highest level since market corrections began two
years ago, Applied Analyis reported.
Owner-occupied homes represented 28.8 percent of all homes listed for sale,
while tenant-occupied and vacant properties represented 71.2 percent of
inventory. About one-third of homes listed for sale (6,920) were identified as
repossessions or were bank-owned.
Frank Nason of Residential Resources said short sales and real estate-owned, or
bank-owned, properties built since 2000 account for 56.2 percent and 53.7
percent, respectively, of February sales.
Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors statistics are based on data collected
through the Multiple Listing Service, which does not account for new homes sold
by builders, sales by owners and other transactions not involving a Realtor.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at
hsmith@... or 702-383-0491.
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