Las Vegas sees another record high in median home price

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Wade Vandervort

A sign advertises a home for sale in Southern Highlands, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020.

Thu, May 6, 2021 (5 a.m.)

Another median home price all-time high was reached in Southern Nevada last month.

Amid one of the tightest housing markets the area has ever witnessed, the median price for an existing home in Las Vegas reached $375,000 in April, according to the Las Vegas Realtors trade group.

The number shattered the previous record, which was $363,000 in March. April’s median price represented a 21% increase from April of last year.

For February, the median price for an existing home was $355,000.

“These April statistics benefit from a comparison to the same month last year, when our housing market was hit hard by the beginning of the pandemic,” said Aldo Martinez, president of the trade group, which represents over 15,000 agents in Southern Nevada, in a statement. “It’s still striking to see how home prices here and nationwide continue to rise to record levels.”

The tight supply of homes available for sale in Las Vegas — and in many markets around the country — is likely the biggest factor for the rising prices.

According to Las Vegas Realtors, there’s now less than a one-month supply of homes on the market. A balanced market is generally seen as being in the six-month range.

Also, with interest rates low — for the last week in April, according to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., the average rate for a fixed 30-year mortgage came in at 2.98% — consumers are borrowing, understanding that money won’t always be this cheap.

Then there’s the migration of new Las Vegas residents from California, where the housing dollar doesn’t go as far.

Jefrie Fulton, a local Realtor who is also licensed in California, said the phenomenon hasn’t slowed of late, despite the climbing prices in Southern Nevada.

“That’s definitely still happening,” said Fulton, who works with the JPF Property team with Realty One Group. “I have clients in California who have sold their properties there because of increasing taxes on homes passed down to children or used as rental properties. We have lower taxes here. People are cashing out in California.”

The median price for a condo or townhome in Las Vegas was just over $202,000 last month, which is up 12.3% from April 2020.

Las Vegas Realtors reported sales of 4,552 homes — including condos and townhomes — in April.

Sales were up 79% for single-family homes and 133% for condos and townhomes during the month.

Even as it’s become commonplace for home sellers to get more — sometimes $10,000 or more — than their asking price, Martinez said interested buyers should stay in the game.

“Homebuyers should stay persistent,” Martinez said. “Our numbers show that over 20% of accepted offers get cold feet and those homes are then awarded to the second, third and even fourth buyer in line.”

The Las Vegas housing market bottomed out in 2012 after the Great Recession, when the median price of an existing home dipped to $118,000.

At that time, the Las Vegas housing market was one of the most depressed in the United States.

The Las Vegas Realtors group, formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, was founded in 1947.

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