Las Vegas Region July Home Sales
Las Vegas-area home sales changed little last month from June and were the lowest for a July in six years as the share of homes sold to investors and other absentee buyers dropped to a 67-month low. The median price paid for a home held steady with June and its increase from a year earlier was the smallest in more than two years, a real estate information service reported.
In July, 4,260 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 1.1 percent from the month before and down 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally.
Sales in the Las Vegas region typically dip from June to July. On average sales have fallen 5.3 percent between those two months since 1994, when CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 10 months.
Last month's home sales were the lowest for the month of July since 2008, when 4,134 homes sold, and they were 12.2 percent below the average number sold during all months of July since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 9.3 percent above average for July, while sales of newly built homes were nearly 62 percent below the July average. Condo resales were 22.6 percent higher than the July average, while resales of detached houses were 6.2 percent above average.
Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $190,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in July, the same as the June median and up 9.6 percent from $173,350 a year earlier. The June and July medians are the highest since the median was also $190,000 in November 2008.
The median sale price’s year-over-year gains over the past 28 consecutive months ranged from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. This July’s 9.6 percent year-over-year increase in the median was the lowest for any month since June 2012 and it marked the median's first single-digit annual increase following two years of double-digit year-over-year gains each month.
July’s median was 39.1 percent below the region’s peak $312,000 median in November 2006.
The run-up in home prices varies somewhat depending on price segment. In July, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 15.9 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 12.1 percent for the market’s middle third and 11.4 percent for the top, most-expensive third.
In July, the number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 dropped 32.1 percent compared with a year earlier, the result of both higher prices this year as well as the thin supply of lower-cost homes for sale. Sub-$200,000 transactions fell 20.8 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more rose 1.8 percent year-over-year. July sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – increased 0.9 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more rose 10.9 percent.
Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 34.7 percent of the homes sold in July, down from 36.3 percent the month before and down from 46.2 percent a year earlier. In July the absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since it was 33.8 percent in January 2009. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 35.4 percent, while the peak was 51.2 percent in March 2012.
The drop in investment activity corresponds with a decline in all-cash purchases, mainly because many investors pay with cash. In July, cash was used to purchase 38.7 percent of all homes sold, up a tad from 37.3 percent the month before and down from 58.5 percent a year earlier. The June 2014 cash level was the lowest for any month since December 2008, when 32.6 percent of homes were bought with cash. The monthly average for cash sales since 1994 is 23.8 percent.
To view additional Las Vegas region July highlights, please visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
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