Las Vegas Region June Home Sales
Las Vegas-area home sales were stuck at a six-year low in June as would-be buyers continued to face inventory, affordability and credit challenges, and as the share of homes purchased by cash and absentee buyers fell again. The median sale price rose from May to a 67-month high, but the median’s year-over-year gain was the lowest in two years, a real estate information service reported.
In June, 4,213 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was up 5.0 percent from the month before and down 11.7 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick, which tracks real estate trends nationally.
Las Vegas-area sales typically rise a bit from May to June. On average, sales have risen 7.4 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 nine consecutive months.
June’s home sales were the lowest for the month of June since 2008, when 3,829 homes sold, and they were 18.8 percent below the average number sold during all months of June since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 2.2 percent above average for a June, while sales of newly built homes were 63.6 percent below the June average. June’s condo resales were 14.1 percent higher than the June average, while resales of detached houses were 0.5 percent below average.
In the first half of 2014 (January-June), total home sales fell 15.9 percent from the same period in 2013.
Home sales have been constrained by higher prices and mortgage rates compared with this time last year, as well as by credit challenges and a tight supply of homes for sale, especially in the lower price ranges. Some owners still can’t afford to sell because they owe more than their homes are worth, or they still lack enough equity to allow them to purchase another home. Also, foreclosures have trended lower in recent years, meaning fewer discounted distressed properties for sale. However, compared with May there was a spike in foreclosures during June that likely was related to a sharp rise in Notice of Default (NoD) filings last September. NoDs reportedly soared last September in advance of a new foreclosure law that took effect the following month. It takes months for a distressed home to wind its way through the foreclosure process, from the NoD filing to the foreclosure event.
Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $190,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in June, up 2.7 percent from $185,000 in May and up 11.8 percent from $170,000 a year earlier. June’s median was the highest since the median was also $190,000 in November 2008.
The median sale price’s year-over-year gains over the past 27 consecutive months have ranged from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. June’s 11.7 percent year-over-year increase was the lowest since the median rose 8.7 percent in June 2012. The median’s year-over-year increases have been double-digit for the past 24 months.
June’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 June, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 19.9 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 13.7 percent for the market’s middle third and 13.9 percent for the top, most-expensive third.
San Diego-based DataQuick was acquired in March by Irvine-based CoreLogic, a leading global property information, analytics and data-enabled services provider. CoreLogic DataQuick monitors real estate activity nationwide and provides information to consumers, educational institutions, public agencies, lending institutions, title companies and industry analysts.
In June, the number of sales where the price was below $100,000 dropped 34.6 percent compared with a year earlier, the result of both higher prices this year as well as the tight supply of lower-cost homes for sale. Sub-$200,000 transactions fell 22.1 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more rose 6.5 percent year-over-year. June sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – increased 7.4 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more fell 1.1 percent.
Investors' presence in the Las Vegas market continued to wane. Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 36.4 percent of the homes sold in June, down from 38.1 percent the month before and down from 46.4 percent a year earlier. In June the absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since it was 36.2 percent in November 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 decline in investment activity corresponds with a drop in cash purchases, in large part because many investors pay with cash. In June cash was used to purchase 37.3 percent of all homes sold –the lowest level since 32.6 percent of homes were bought with cash in December 2008. June’s cash share was down from 40.3 percent in May and down from a record 60.1 percent a year earlier. The monthly average for cash sales since 1994 is 23.7 percent.
To view additional Las Vegas region June highlights, please visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
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