Las Vegas Region August Home Sales
The Las Vegas region logged its slowest August home sales in 16 years last month amid affordability and inventory constraints as well as the lowest level of all-cash purchases since late 2008. Although home price appreciation continued to run well below last year’s pace, the median sale price rose to a nearly six-year high, a real estate information service reported.
In August, 4,007 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was down 5.9 percent from the month before and down 15.7 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data.
Sales in the Las Vegas region typically increase slightly between July and August. On average sales have risen 2.6 percent between those two months since 1994, when Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin. Sales have fallen on a year-over-year basis for the past 11 months.
Last month's home sales were the lowest for the month of August since 1998, when 3,657 homes sold, and they were 20.0 percent below the average number sold during all months of August since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 0.8 percent above average for August, while sales of newly built homes were nearly 64 percent below the August average. Condo resales were 6.8 percent higher than the August average, while resales of detached houses were 0.5 percent below average.
Las Vegas region buyers paid a median $195,000 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in August, up 2.6 percent from the July median and up 9.9 percent from $177,500 a year earlier. The August median was the highest since it was $196,000 in October 2008. However, the median’s 9.9 percent annual increase last month was less than one-third of the August 2013 year-over-year gain of 33.5 percent.
Over the last 29 consecutive months the median’s year-over-year increases have ranged from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. August marked the second consecutive month in which the median had a single-digit annual increase following two years of double-digit year-over-year gains each month.
The August median was 37.5 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 August, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 17.6 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 11.9 percent for the market’s middle third and 7.9 percent for the top, most-expensive third.
In August, the number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 dropped 31.5 percent compared with a year earlier. That’s the result of both home price appreciation (i.e. homes that would have sold for less than $100,000 a year ago would now sell for significantly more) as well as the thin supply of lower-cost homes for sale. Sub-$200,000 transactions fell 24.4 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more in August declined 1.8 percent year-over-year. August sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – dipped 3.3 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more rose 14.6 percent.
Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 34.9 percent of the homes sold in August, up a tad from 34.3 percent the month before and down from 42.3 percent a year earlier. This July’s absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since January 2009, when it was 33.8 percent. The monthly average for the absentee buyer share since January 2000 is 35.3 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 August, cash was used to purchase 34.7 percent of all homes sold, down from 38.7 percent the month before and down from 53.4 percent a year earlier. Last month’s cash share 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 23.9 percent.
To view additional Las Vegas region August highlights, please visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
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