Las Vegas homebuyers frustrated by lack of supply, jumping home prices, mortgage rate increases

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Homes prices continue to set new records according to Las Vegas Realtors. The median price for a single-family home was $450,000 in February. That’s up 27% from a year ago. If you are in the market for a new home in and around Las Vegas, you are certainly not alone.

“It is frustrating. I probably put an offer in on 10-15 homes and literally have not gotten one single one of them,” said Tyrone Reynolds.

For Reynolds, house hunting has become a second job.

“I literally wake up… first thing I do I check my email… [for] the ones that are coming soon or just hit the market... I go to work and I come back, and I instantly hit Zillow,” Reynolds said.

The Speech Language Pathologist started his search for a home in Las Vegas two years ago, just before the pandemic.

“I have a career for myself and feel like I have everything together numbers wise that a usual seller would want. However, we are seeing more and more that all of these companies are buying all of these homes up and literally giving nobody like us, a typical buyer a chance,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds posted his frustration online posting this:

“Had 7 houses set to look at today.. All on the market less than 3 days.. All purchased by cash offers.. Is this ever going to end?”

When Reynolds first started looking for homes, his mortgage rate was locked in at about 2.8%, now it’s in the mid 4s.

That means he will pay thousands of dollars more over the life of his loan.

Even with average house prices jumping, Reynolds continues to get outbid and not just by a little.

“You are going in and saying ok you think this house is going to be $400,000 and then I go in and put in an offer and I find out that they put in an offer for $458,000, like that’s happened to me. I’ve gotten outbid by $50,000 and at that point you feel defeated,” Reynolds said.

“We are about six million homes short nationally,” said Lee Barrett, president-elect of Las Vegas Realtors. Barrett said it’s supply and demand, there’s just not enough supply to meet demand.

“One of my agents was out yesterday on a brand-new listing and they opened it up from 5PM to 6PM and they had 25 people inside the house,” Barrett said.

Barrett said while interest rates have gone up, they are still much lower than they have been historically, but rate increases will impact people like Tyrone.

“It does impact that person that first time homebuyer in their ability to qualify for a house. It kind of shortens the amount of money,” Barrett said.

Reynolds isn’t giving up on the house hunt, determined to find a permanent place in the Las Vegas valley to call home.

“My kind of viewpoint now is just keep going, but it is going to get to a point where it is almost too much, but I am going to keep trying,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said his lease is up next month at his apartment. The rent going up by $380 a month so he feels like he is on a time crunch to find a home by then.

Copyright 2022 KVVU. All rights reserved.