Southern Nevada’s Real Estate Market Trends in January 2024
The beginning of 2024 saw Southern Nevada’s home prices continuing to climb while the housing supply dwindled compared to the previous year, hinting at a potential rebound in home sales after a sluggish period.
Las Vegas Realtors (LVR) reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada via its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in January stood at $445,000. Although this was a slight dip from December figures, it marked a 4.7% increase from $425,000 recorded in January 2023. Despite the decrease from the all-time high of $482,000 in May 2022, local home prices remained elevated.
Conversely, the median price of condos and townhomes in January surged to $275,000, up 7.8% from $255,000 in January 2023. However, this figure remained below the peak of $287,000 reached in August 2022.
Merri Perry, president of LVR, attributed the persistent scarcity in housing supply as a key factor bolstering home prices while hindering sales.
Mortgage interest rates also played a crucial role, with rates hovering around 7% for a 30-year fixed mortgage. Despite recent upticks, rates had been showing signs of moderation in recent months.
Perry expressed optimism for 2024, citing forecasts by national experts predicting an increase in home availability and sales compared to the previous year.
“Lower interest rates and relatively stable home prices in Southern Nevada over the past few months have been encouraging,” Perry remarked. “Now, if we could only see more homes hitting the market, it would significantly improve our position.”
By the end of January, LVR reported a notable decline in available single-family homes listed for sale without offers, down by 34.8% compared to the previous year. Similarly, condos and townhomes listed without offers experienced a 7.9% decrease year-on-year.
In terms of sales, a total of 1,955 existing local homes, condos, and townhomes were sold in January 2024. This marked an 11.6% increase in home sales and a 19.6% surge in condo and townhome sales compared to January 2023.
However, despite the uptick in sales, the pace indicated a local housing supply of less than two and a half months, significantly lower than the nearly four-month supply observed a year earlier.
Reflecting on 2023, LVR highlighted it as the slowest year for existing local home sales since 2008. Total sales stood at 29,069, a decline from the 35,584 recorded in 2022.
This followed a record-breaking year in 2021, with over 50,000 properties sold, surpassing the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales.
Cash transactions accounted for 27.4% of all local property sales in January, slightly up from 27.2% the previous year. However, it remained significantly below the peak of 59.5% recorded in May 2013, indicating decreased investor activity in the housing market.
Distressed sales, comprising short sales and foreclosures, remained at historically low levels, making up 1.5% of all existing local property sales in January. This was up from 0.8% the previous year but remained considerably lower than levels observed five years ago.
It’s important to note that these statistics from LVR are based on data collected through its MLS and do not encompass all newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes sold directly by owners.
Other notable highlights from the Greater Las Vegas market in January include:
The total value of real estate transactions recorded through the MLS during January surpassed $842 million for homes and nearly $139 million for condos, high-rise condos, and townhomes.
This represents a significant increase compared to the same period last year, with total sales values up by 19.6% for homes and 17.0% for condos and townhomes.
In January, a substantial percentage of existing local homes and condos were sold within a relatively short timeframe. Specifically, 75.2% of all existing local homes and 77.7% of all existing local condos and townhomes were sold within 60 days.
This marks a notable improvement from one year earlier when only 62.3% of homes and 65.6% of condos and townhomes were sold within the same timeframe.
