LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
Statistics released Wednesday by the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® show existing home prices increased for the sixth straight month, while the local housing supply bounced back slightly in July.
"It was good to see more homes listed for sale last month, although we still have a shortage of available homes on the market," said Kolleen Kelley, GLVAR president. "This is due primarily to banks putting fewer homes on the market than they did in the past. For local homeowners, the bright side is that this tight housing supply has been driving up home prices - at least for now. We're also glad to see banks agreeing to more short sales as an alternative to foreclosure."
Kelley said she sees "more short-sellers pushing to get their homes on the market" with the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act set to expire at the end of 2012. If Congress does not extend this law by Dec. 31, she said any amount of money a bank writes off in agreeing to sell a home as part of a short sale will become taxable income when sellers pay their income taxes.
According to GLVAR, the total number of local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in July was 3,572. That's down from 3,945 in June and down from 4,037 total sales in July 2011.
Compared to June, single-family home sales during July decreased by 10.1 percent, while sales of condos and townhomes decreased by 6.7 percent. Compared to one year ago, home sales were down 8.7 percent, while condo and townhome sales were down 21.9 percent, according to GLVAR.
As for prices, GLVAR reported the median price of single-family homes sold in July was $133,000, up 0.9 percent from $131,785 in June and up 9.0 percent from one year ago. July marked the sixth straight month that median home prices increased - the longest run of monthly price appreciation since at least 2004, according to GLVAR. Meanwhile, the median price of local condominiums and townhomes sold in July was $66,500, down 3.6 percent from $69,000 in June, but up 12.7 percent from one year ago.
Reversing a months-long trend, the total number of homes listed for sale on GLVAR's Multiple Listing Service increased slightly from June to July, with a total of 16,944 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of the month. That's up 0.1 percent from 16,930 single-family homes listed for sale at the end of June, but still down 24.5 percent from one year ago.
More condos and townhomes were also on the market. GLVAR reported a total of 3,758 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of July. That's up 1.2 percent from 3,713 condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS at the end of June, but down 26.3 percent from one year ago.
The number of available homes listed for sale without any sort of pending or contingent offer also rebounded compared to the previous month, but was still down considerably from last year. By the end of July, GLVAR reported 4,293 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That's up 16.3 percent from 3,690 such homes listed in June, but down 60.9 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,224 properties listed without offers in July represented a 13.0 percent increase from 1,083 such properties listed without offers in June, but a decrease of 50.9 percent from one year ago.
In July, GLVAR reported that 54.8 percent of all existing homes sold in Southern Nevada were purchased with cash. That's up slightly from 54.0 percent in June.
Meanwhile, 40 percent of all existing local homes sold during July were short sales, which occur when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes on the mortgage. That's up from 34.2 percent in June and the highest short sale percentage GLVAR has ever recorded.
Continuing a trend of declining foreclosure sales in recent months, bank-owned homes accounted for 20.7 percent of all existing home sales in July, down from 27.8 percent in June.
Kelley noted that short sales now outnumber foreclosure sales in Southern Nevada, a sign that "banks are more willing to agree to short sales and less willing to foreclose." Since "short sales are better than a foreclosure for homeowners and for our neighborhoods," she called this a positive trend.
GLVAR reported that the median price of bank-owned single-family homes sold in July was $122,500, up from $118,000 in June. The median price of single-family homes sold as part of a short sale in July was $120,000, up from $117,250 in June.
These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of July 2012. GLVAR distributes such statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or for sale by owners. Other highlights include:
• The monthly value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during July decreased by 7.2 percent for homes to more than $495 million. For condos and townhomes, the total value of all sales in July was nearly $65 million, down 12.3 percent from June. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in July were up 3.6 percent for homes, but down 2.8 percent for condos and townhomes.
• In July, 65.0 percent of all homes and 75.1 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to June, when 65.4 percent of all homes and 71.6 percent of all condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.
Copyright 2012 KVVU (KVVU Broadcasting Corporation). All rights reserved.
