Las Vegas Region September Home Sales
Las Vegas-area homes sold at the slowest pace for a September in seven years as the share of homes purchased by investors and other absentee buyers fell to a 69-month low. The median price paid for a home edged up from August to a six-year high, CoreLogic DataQuick reported.
In September, 3,930 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County). That was down 1.9 percent from the month before and down 7.8 percent from a year earlier, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data. Last month's sales were the lowest for a September since 2007, when 3,054 homes sold.
Las Vegas region home sales typically dip between August and September. On average sales have fallen 5.4 percent between those two months since 1994, when Irvine-based CoreLogic DataQuick's complete Las Vegas-area statistics begin.
Last month's home sales were 15.8 percent below the average number sold during all months of September since 1994. However, resales of houses and condos combined were 5.3 percent above average for a September, while sales of newly built homes were nearly 58 percent below the September average. Condo resales were 19.2 percent higher than the September average, while resales of detached houses were 2.0 percent above average.
From January through September this year a total of 34,877 homes sold in the Las Vegas region, down 14.5 percent from the same nine-month period last year.
Las Vegas-area buyers paid a median $196,816 for all new and resale houses and condos purchased in September, up 0.9 percent from August and up 12.5 percent from $175,000 a year earlier. Last month’s median was the highest since it was $205,000 in September 2008. The median’s 12.5 percent year-over-year increase last month was up from a 9.9 percent annual gain in August but it was far below the September 2013 year-over-year increase of 27.7 percent.
The median has risen year-over-year for 30 straight months, with those gains ranging from 1.7 percent to 36.5 percent. In the second half of this year the median’s annual gains have ranged from 9.6 percent to last month's 12.5 percent.
The September median was 36.9 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 September, the lowest-cost third of the region’s housing stock saw a 13.5 percent year-over-year gain in the median price paid per square foot for resale single-family detached houses. The annual increase was 12.7 percent for the market’s middle third and 8.6 percent for the top, most-expensive third.
In September, the number of homes that sold for less than $100,000 dropped 22.7 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 21.0 percent year-over-year. Meanwhile, the number of homes that sold for $200,000 or more in September rose 7.4 percent year-over-year. Sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000 – a range that would include many move-up purchases – rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier, while the number selling for $500,000 or more rose 4.5 percent.
Absentee buyers, which include investors and some vacation-home buyers, purchased 33.2 percent of the homes sold in September, down from 35.0 percent the month before and down from 42.8 percent a year earlier. Last month's absentee buyer share of total sales was the lowest since December 2008, when it was 31.3 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 September, cash was used to purchase 35.8 percent of all homes sold, up a tad from 34.7 percent the month before and down from 52.7 percent a year earlier. Last month’s cash share was the second-lowest, behind this August, for any month since December 2008, when 32.6 percent of homes were bought with cash. Since 1994 a monthly average of 23.9 percent of all homes have been bought with cash.
To view additional Las Vegas region September highlights, please visit DQNews.com.
Media calls: Andrew LePage (916) 456-7157
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