A little over a year ago I wrote about the Las Vegas real estate market and the media buzz of the double dip in Las Vegas real estate prices. 
Well here is some follow up: yes Las Vegas experienced a double dip. The serving was not as big as 2008 however it was larger than I had expected. I was only expecting single digits but we slipped into the double digits again. What’s crazy with my predictions last September 2010 is that I predicted we would move to a stable market from a seller’s market. The market flirted with stable market territory but never slipped into a stable market.
Las Vegas continues to defy odds makers with this rather odd real estate market. I don’t think we will pull out of distressed territory (less than 50% short sale or REO listings & sales) for at least the next five years. With that being said, as long as banks continue to drive pricing on homes for sale in the Las Vegas market with REO (bank owned) inventory – we could stay in a declining pattern for quite some time.
Most of our defaults are – no doubt – strategic. Our economy is pitiful however many that can afford or are just “hanging on” decide to cut their losses and move on in life. Right, wrong or indifferent: I am not one to judge.
Here are the stats from our board GLVAR:
Sold August 2011:
- SFR Units Sold UP +31.5% Year over Year
- SFR Median Price DOWN -14.3% Year over Year
- SFR Average Price DOWN -12.8% Year over Year
- Condo/TH Units Sold UP +20.5% Year over Year
- Condo/TH Median Price DOWN -16.4% Year over Year
- Condo/TH Average Price DOWN -16.9% Year over Year
As you can see we are defying the law of supply and demand. Buyers are rushing in to purchase our fire sale priced cheap home inventory. HOWEVER (don’t you love “buts”?) The distressed inventory keeps coming in larger chunks even though buyers are gobbling it up!
