Las Vegas Region May Home Sales
Las Vegas-area home sales held at a seven-year high last month as activity above $200,000 continued to rise sharply and buyers used cash to purchase a record 59.6 percent of all homes sold. The median price paid for a home rose above a year earlier for the 14th consecutive month, pushed higher by price appreciation, the shift toward more mid- to high-end deals and the decline of foreclosure resales, a real estate information service reported.
In May, 5,005 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 2.8 percent from the month before and up 3.6 percent from a year earlier, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. The firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.
Total home sales have increased year-over-year for the past two months, following 10 consecutive months of year-over-year sales declines.
May sales in the Las Vegas region were the highest for that month since May 2006, when 7,615 homes sold. Last month's sales were 0.3 percent above the average number of homes sold during all months of May since 1994, when DataQuick’s complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin.
Resales of houses and condos combined were 28.1 percent higher than average for the month of May, while sales of newly built homes were 52.1 percent below average for a May.
Mid- to high-end activity continued to soar compared with year-ago levels, while the number of low-end deals fell sharply again.
Sales of homes priced below $100,000 dropped 44.8 percent in May compared with a year earlier, while the number of transactions below $200,000 fell 17.8 percent year-over-year. Sales above $200,000 surged 78.4 percent year-over-year, pushed up by the combination of home price appreciation and the increase in sales in mid- to high-end markets. May sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – jumped 76.9 percent from a year earlier, while the number sold over $500,000 nearly doubled, rising 92.6 percent.
The median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold across the Las Vegas region (Clark County) in May was $162,000, which is the highest for any month since the median was $175,000 in December 2008. Last month's median rose 1.3 percent from the prior month and increased 32.8 percent from a year earlier. The median has risen year-over-year for 14 consecutive months, with those gains ranging from 1.7 percent to 34.8 percent. Those annual gains have been double-digit for the past 11 consecutive months.
Recent sharp gains in the median sale price reflect price appreciation triggered by strong demand meeting a relatively low supply of homes for sale, as well as changes in market mix. Fewer of the homes re-selling now are low-cost foreclosed properties, and more are move-up homes in mid- to high-priced neighborhoods.
Despite the median’s year-over-year surge in May, it was still 48.1 percent below its November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 in January 2012, which was the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.
Las Vegas region May highlights (see DQNews.com for the two charts)
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
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