Nevada ranks at bottom in appreciation of existing homes

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 11:41 a.m.

Only Hawaii had a worse showing among the 50 states and District of Columbia, rising 1.2 percent.

By comparison, existing home prices appreciated 8.5 percent in California and 4.6 percent in Arizona, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight reported in its third-quarter House Price Index.

"I'm surprised it's down," said Dennis Smith, a local housing researcher. "I think it's too early to tell what it means. We really need to see two or three more quarters to establish a trend."

Smith and other local real estate professionals have blamed Nevada's poor appreciation rate on the strength of the new-home market, where competition from many builders kept prices low relative to the price of purchasing an existing home.

But in the past year, that scenario was changing and resale appreciation began to increase by more than the 3 percent of recent years. More consumers are now buying resales as the prices of new homes rise, Smith said.

California continues to lead the nation with the average value of an existing home rising 8.5 percent for the year ending Sept. 30.

Overall, existing home prices in the United States increased 5 percent in the past year and 20.1 percent during the past five years.

Nevada resale prices have appreciated, on average, by 14.8 percent over the past five years.