The Las Vegas Valley existing home market continues to be unflinchingly in seller’s territory.
Aldo Martinez, president of the Las Vegas Realtors trade group, said there was less than a one-month supply of preowned homes on the market at the end of February. A six-month supply is generally considered a balanced market.
Just under 2,700 existing homes sold last month, according to the Realtor group’s latest statistics released today.
About 6,800 homes were listed for sale at the end of February, a drop of nearly 24% from the same month in 2020.
Market conditions present “a rare opportunity for home sellers, who have never seen a better time to sell their home for top dollar,” Martinez, a longtime area Realtor, said in a news release. He also acknowledged the circumstances present a challenge for potential buyers.
February’s median sale price of $355,000 set a new record for Las Vegas, eclipsing the previous mark of $345,000, which remained unchanged from November through January.
During February 2020, existing homes sold for a median price of $312,000.
“Our housing market continues to perform better than most people expected when this pandemic started,” Martinez said. “Still, we’re looking forward to getting through this, to stabilizing the economy and increasing consumer confidence so people feel more comfortable buying and selling homes and moving when the need arises.”
Laci Cerrone, a local Realtor with the Cerrone Group, said homeowners in Las Vegas might want to consider putting their house on the market.
“With limited housing inventory in resale and new construction, and rental rates on the rise, the competition is tough for buyers,” Cerrone said.
At the end of February, 1,677 homes were listed for sale without any type of offer. That’s a 60% drop from February 2020, according to the group.
February’s figure also represents a 27% drop from January.
Local condominiums and townhomes sold last month for a median price of $197,500, a 13% increase from February 2020.
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 the time, the Las Vegas housing market was one of the most depressed in the country.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Las Vegas market has been much more in line with national trends, which have been influenced by historically low interest rates and a shortage of homes for sale, Las Vegas Realtors said.