Las Vegas Area Median Home Price is Up

According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Las Vegas area median home price is now $219,000. The median home price is up 9.5%  from  $200,000 a year earlier.

Association president Scott Beaudry said he expects the southern Nevada housing market to be stable in 2016 like it was last year. But he said the area still struggles with a low supply of houses and too many underwater homeowners.

Beaudry added that the market should continue to improve as the population grows and more owners build equity in their homes.

Median home prices remain between their peak of $315,000 (June 2006) and their lowest of $118,000 (January 2012).

The market remains relatively tight, with a four-month supply of homes at the current sales pace. Industry experts consider a six-month inventory a balanced market.

Distressed sales continued to shed market share. Seven percent of January closings were short sales, in which the lender agrees to let the homeowner sell for less than the mortgage owed. That was down from 9.7 percent a year earlier. Another 7.9 percent of sales were bank-owned, compared with 9.4 percent a year ago.

Here’s a glance at market activity:

• Sales volume was second-lowest.
• New listings climbed for the third consecutive January to the highest tally since 2012.
• The median asking price of January’s listings was 13.7 percent above the median sales price of January’s closings, the largest first-month spread in the five-year timeframe.

The National Association of Realtors published that “Overall, a resilient U.S. economy and very solid job growth in recent years made 2015 a great rebound year for the housing market. Existing-home sales were at the highest pace (5.26 million) since 2006 (6.48 million) and the Pending Home Sales Index came in at an average of 108.8, the highest annual reading since…you guessed it: 2006 (111.7).”

Jonathan Smoke, Realtor.com Chief Economist thinks that “All indicators point to this spring being the busiest since 2006… Demand for for-sale housing will grow and will continue to be dominated by older millennials, aged 25 to 34. This demographic has the potential to claim a third of home sales in 2016 and represent 2 million home purchases.”

If you are thinking about buying a home in 2016, this just might be your year to move forward. Buying a home had become harder over the past few years. With inventory of homes at low levels, tightened mortgage guidelines, past negative items on personal credit history...

Read our article about 5 Reasons to Buy Your Dream Home in 2016