Residential sales still high as inventory falls

BY TONY ILLIA

BUSINESS PRESS

There were 2,313 new Las Vegas home closings in January, a 16.6 percent increase over the same month a year ago, reports SalesTraq, a residential research firm. Although the median new Las Vegas home price reached $298,532, a 43.8 percent increase from a year ago, it's also the first price dip in 15 months. (The median price of a new home sold in December was $300,780.)

"Excess inventory is rapidly being depleted," says Stephen Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions, a Las Vegas-based residential consulting firm. "In the twelve months ending January, there were 2,371 more new Las Vegas home permits than new Las Vegas home sales. We've eaten through 1,500 units of inventory in the last month."

There were only 1,463 new Las Vegas home permits in January, an 81 percent drop from 2004. And there were 3,259 pre-existing Las Vegas home sales in January, which is 11.3 percent less than 12 months ago. Despite this, existing median Las Vegas home prices reached $250,000 in January, a 36.1 percent gain from 2004. While homes stayed on the Las Vegas real estate market for an average of 46 days, which is 39 percent longer than in 2004. Additionally, the number of Las Vegas homes on MLS fell for the fourth consecutive month by 125 units to 11,141.

"Demand is stable, prices are stable and inventory is diminishing," Bottfeld says. "Prices will go up because Las Vegas real estate demand will continue to exceed supply, and the resale market will get almost as hot as it did in the first and second quarter of 2004."        

Southern Nevada homebuilders had 28,773 new home closings in 2004, marking a residential sales record for the Las Vegas Valley . There were also 59,613 existing Las Vegas home closings last year, setting yet another sales record.