The Las Vegas real estate market saw a decline in the number of closed sales last month. However, home appreciation continued to tick upwards last month due to continued low inventory and lack of new listings.
While Las Vegas is one of the hardest-hit metro areas in terms of unemployment, the market is being supported by newcomers from California, New York, and other densely populated areas.
Read or watch for the full September 2020 Las Vegas Real Estate Market Update. All data from LVR August 2020.
The median sales price last month of single family homes was $335,000. This was up 1.5% from the previous month and up an incredible 9.8% from the same time last year.
Condos and townhomes have seen a less dramatic change. The median sales price was down 5.6% from last month but still up 4.5% from last year to $185,000. Last month’s numbers uncharacteristically jumped to $196,000 so it is not that odd for the sales price to go back to $185,000 where it was 2 months ago.
We like to remind our clients that while the median sales price for single-family homes is at all-time high for the Las Vegas area, when taking into account for inflation we are still not past the peak in 2006. In June of 2006, home prices peaked at $315,000. Adjusted for inflation this would be $411,000 at today’s value.
There were 2,910 single-family homes sold last month. This is down 12.5% from the previous month and down 8.1% from the same time last year.
Condos and townhomes followed suit with 684 sales, down 2.3% from last month and 10.8% from the same time last year.
This year the market is not following normal yearly trends. We believe the market is seeing a break from the pent up demand we saw this summer which was in essence our “spring market.” Inventory is extremely low, and this makes it harder for buyers to find and close on a property.
Inventory continues to shrink. There were 4,639 homes available for sale last month. This is down 3.5% from last month and down 40.3% from last year!!!
Condos and townhomes faired slightly better with 1,544 available properties. This is down 2.3% from last month and down 17.0% from the same time last year.
The number of new listings was slightly higher across the board, however, there were not nearly enough to keep up with demand and refill our extremely diminished pool of available homes.
Months of inventory reflects how long it would take at the current level of demand to sell all available homes. A balanced market which neither favors the buyer or the seller is generally around 6 months of inventory.
The single-family homes market is currently sitting on 1.6 months of inventory. This is actually up 10.3% from last month (this is a reflection of the decreased number of sales last month), but is still down 35% from last year! It seemed last year we were starting to head towards a more balanced market…then 2020 happened 🙂
Condos and townhomes had 2.3 months of inventory. This was down 0.1% from last month and down 6.9% from last year.
Across the board, the market is heavily favoring the seller. This means sellers may receive multiple offers on well-priced homes, will be less willing to negotiate on price, and less likely to give concessions such as closing costs.
Unemployment in the Las Vegas area remains one of the highest in the nation. However, the market is being supported by a huge influx of migrants from other states looking for a better quality of life. Many people are now permanently able to work remotely. The Las Vegas area is extremely appealing to many people as it has no state income tax (this is huge for people coming from California), sunny weather, affordability, and proximity to many outdoors activities.
We are seeing some people who have been laid off preemptively sell their homes. These clients are walking away with huge gains. Others are riding out the storm and taking a mortgage forbearance. How the mortgage forbearance is handled in the future will be a key factor in the state of the market moving forward into 2021/2022. In our opinion, the government will do everything in its power to avoid massive foreclosures and another 2008 type of recessions…but only time will tell.
We will be sure to keep you informed!
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All data is August 2020 numbers, supplied by the Las Vegas Realtors. Deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
