Yet home and condo prices hold steady last month

Las Vegas Realtors are reporting this week that prices for local Southern Nevada homes and condos are holding steady, matching prices from one year ago.
 
LVR reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during September 2023 was $450,000, matching the median price in September of 2022. Local home prices are still below the all-time record of $482,000 set in May of 2022.
 
Likewise, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in September was $270,000, the same price as September of 2022. That’s down 5.9% from the all-time high of $287,000 set in August.

By the end of September 2023, LVR reported 4,066 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 49.9% from the same time last year. Similarly, the 1,035 condos and townhomes listed without offers in September represent a 44.0% decline from one year earlier.
 
LVR reported a total of 2,374 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in September. Compared to September 2022, sales were down 10.3% for homes, but up 5.5% for condos and townhomes.

LVR President Lee Barrett, said a historically tight housing supply and recently rising mortgage interest rates continue to drive the housing market.
 
“We should probably get used to the current housing market since it’s not likely to change much anytime soon,” Barrett said. “Hopefully, some of our national experts are right in predicting that interest rates could begin to come down a bit sometime next year. Even at current rates and with our very tight housing supply, owning a home here in Southern Nevada is a better deal than renting for most people, especially when you consider that homeownership is still one of the best ways to build wealth and financial stability over time.”
  
The sales pace in September equates to just over a two-month supply of properties available for sale. Last year at this time, Southern Nevada had nearly a four-month housing supply.
 
Fewer homes have been selling this year than during 2022, when LVR reported 35,584 total sales. That followed a record year for existing local home sales in 2021, when LVR reported 50,010 homes, condos, townhomes and other residential properties were sold. That was the first time LVR reported more than 50,000 local properties selling in a year. It topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales.
 
During September, LVR found that 27.9% of all local property sales were cash transactions. That’s up from 25.8% one year ago. That’s well below the May 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5%, suggesting that investors have been less active in the local housing market.
 
The number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.3% of all existing local property sales in September. That compares to 0.1% one year ago, 0.4% two years ago, 1.0% three years ago, 2.0% four years ago and 2.5% five years ago.
 
These LVR statistics include activity through the end of September 2023. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not account for all newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners.

Other market highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during September was more than $1 billion for homes and more than $159 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year earlier, total sales values in September were down 6.9% for homes, but up 4.0% for condos and townhomes.
• In September, 85.7% of all existing local homes and 86.3% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year earlier, when 85.2% of all existing local homes and 87.4% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.