
Real Estate
Living in Las Vegas may seem unrealistic to a lot of people, but in fact, the real estate market there is very real. Las Vegas offers some of the most developed entertainment, best tasting foods, and breathtaking sightseeing. Buying a home in Las Vegas is a very viable decision, as property in the area can be significantly less expensive than other cities.
However, the Las Vegas real estate market was not immune to the recession. In fact, the large unprecedented growth of the market in the past few years was built very much on sub prime lending, which collapsed and is now known as the Las Vegas real estate bubble burst.
Homes in Las Vegas real estate have been much cheaper than they have been in the past, causing a spike in the Las Vegas real estate market. The cheaper housing available in Las Vegas was much more affordable, especially when compared to nearby markets such as Southern California. With such a large amount of homes available for sale and rent, prices have dropped below historic market value.
This was all happening at the beginning of 2009. The active Las Vegas real estate market has helped to speed up the recovery from the recession. More properties are being bought, theoretically causing the prices of Las Vegas housing to rise.
More recently, however, the Las Vegas real estate market has changed even more. The lower prices prove to be very good news for those who are looking to buy a house in Las Vegas. Here are some highlights from the trends since the summer of 2009 in the Las Vegas real estate market:
1. Home prices are at record lows unseen in Las Vegas since 1998. This does not necessarily mean good news for everyone, but it is good news for people looking to buy a home.
2. The median price of existing homes was at $125,000 in April, a 57% drop from two years before that. The average price per square foot was $135.73 in April of 2008. One year later, the price per square foot sat at $79.58, a 42% drop. These drops have brought a lot of business and activity to the Las Vegas real estate market.
3. Home sales in Las Vegas are up, mostly due to the dropping home prices. In April, home sales soared with 4,063 existing homes being sold, and increase of 78% percent from April last year. Out of all homes sold in April, 62% were owned by the bank. The amount of home sales increasing has sparked the Las Vegas real estate market.
4. The current inventory of existing homes is 16,202, which is the lowest since April of 2006. This does not necessarily mean a sign of recovery for the Las Vegas real estate market, but it can be a good sign. In addition, the program “First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit” offers $8,000 or 10% of tax credit to first time home buyers. The program ends in December of this year, and will likely have a large impact on sales.