Las Vegas Home Sales Break Record for 2011
Posted by Paul Francis on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 4:50pm.Las Vegas Home Sales Break Record in 2011
Flying in the face of the perceptions that the Las Vegas real estate market is dismal and in despair, a record number of resale homes sold in Las Vegas for 2011.
Read the Article Here.
Sure... prices have plummeted from the peak of the bubble but there is no shortage of buyers wanting to buy. In fact... I would bet that the numbers would have been even higher if Las Vegas short sales were going through faster. Inventory of Las Vegas Homes for sale is going down - according to the article, only 8,831 single family homes are available on the Las Vegas Multiple Listing Service for sale. Keep in mind this number includes homes in bedroom communities such as Mesquite, Pahrump, Boulder City and Laughlin. In other words, the amount of single family homes available for sale in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson is probably even less then the 8,831 being reported in the Las Vegas Review Journal.
A Real Estate Market has to have Buyers
You can create all of the housing programs you want but without buyers, there is no true recovery. All of the bad home loans need to be flushed through the system in order to return to a normal market. The sooner the short sales are processed and the REO (bank owned homes) are turned, the sooner you have buyers become owners that can afford the upkeep of their homes. The short sales and REO homes do not have the luxury of sitting around and have to be priced aggressively in order to beat deadlines. Until we get through all of these properties then prices will remain relatively flat. Once we do get through them, you can expect Las Vegas home values to return to normal appreciation levels.
It's no secret that it's possible to purchase Las Vegas Homes and have a mortgage payment less then paying rent. There are many people who want to buy but their credit due to a previous foreclosure or a short sale has held them back. That's changing as the three year time period has passed for those that were part of the first wave of foreclosures. I personally represented a buyer that went through a foreclosure in 2008 who was able to obtain a FHA loan and purchase a Las Vegas that we closed on this past June. Many more are probably on the way.
Sit on the Sideline and Wait?
That's certainly the right of any buyer but I'm starting to see what we saw in 2003 where the inventory of great homes for sale in good areas started dwindling down. There are many communities I keep track of for my clients and we have not been able to buy anything for several months because nothing is coming up for sale that meets their criteria.
My watch list on Las Vegas homes in the foreclosure process that buyers want to buy once the bank releases them for sale is getting longer by the week as we wait... and wait.
I can also share more then a couple of stories of first time Las Vegas homebuyers who could not make a decision back in the Summer when there were some great Las Vegas homes for sale that they missed out on. They are still waiting around for something to become available. The amount of homes fitting their criteria being put up for sale has dwindled down dramatically and the quality of the ones that are coming up in their price range is average.
Buyers choice but the sales numbers are right there. Buyers are out there buying up the homes that they can with many of them being cash deals. It's only a matter of time for Las Vegas to get through all of the bad home loans that are out there and return to a sane market free of intervention from outside sources.
Let me know what you are looking for by calling 702.592.3058 or filling out my contact form.
Paul Francis
Prudential Americana Group, REALTORS
Las Vegas Real Estate
702.592.3058
Print
ShareBe the first to comment on this blog entry!