Las Vegas Market Report- January 2013

Contributed on January 7, 2013 by Forrest Barbee Corporate Broker

The Current Las Vegas Market

Single family residential (SFR) closings for December 2012 were up 11% from November 2012.  However, SFR closings were down 6.4% in 2012 compared to 2011.  This was offset by a 24% increase in the median sales price of an SFR as 2012 ended the year with a median closed sales price of $149,000 compared to $120,000 in 2011.  I have included last year’s market update along with the current update and additional charts below.

Click Here to Download the Market Update One Year Ago

Click Here to Download the Current Market Update

Click Here for Additional Market Update Charts

Las Vegas Market Closings and Momentum

December witnessed a strange turnaround in momentum for both traditional and short sale transactions.  The same trend appears in other markets as well.  My guess is that many sellers were making a concerted effort to close their short sale transaction before December 31st – just in case the Mortgage Debt Relief Act did not get passed.  We are all grateful that it has been extened for one more year, but realize that a year goes by very quickly.  Thank you to everyone who responded to the NAR Call to Action to help push for the extension of this Act.

REOs have declined dramatically this past year and are now only about 10% of the closings in this market.  However, they seem to have leveled off with a very slight increase in the available REO properties this past month!  It’s good to see an increase here since Greater Las Vegas only has an average of 1.2 months of SFR inventory compared to 2.7 months of inventory at this same time last year.

Las Vegas Closings by Property Type 2011 vs 2012

Closings are down 6.4% from 2011 but remain strong.  2013 may very well see even fewers units closed but will most likely continue to see an increase in the closed sales prices.