Casino industry driving S. Nevada housing boom

Kevin Rademacher

Friday, July 18, 2003 | 11:35 a.m.

Nevada continues to lead the nation in growth of its housing stock, a federal agency reported today.

Nevada's housing inventory -- which includes apartments, mobile homes, condominiums and single-family homes -- grew by 4 percent, or 34,856 units, between July 2001 and July 2002, said a study by the U.S. Commerce Department's Census Bureau.

Nevada's housing gains were well ahead of the the next fastest-growing state, Colorado, which posted a 2.9 percent gain, followed by Arizona (2.7 percent), Georgia (2.6 percent) and Utah (2.3 percent).

"Nevada has been the fastest growing state in terms of percentage growth for 15 years," said Keith Schwer, director of UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER), "The simple explanation is all those hotel rooms that have been added, creating new jobs."

Las Vegas grew from about 61,000 hotel rooms in 1988 to about 127,000 hotel rooms in 2002, CBER statistics said.

Projections for Las Vegas indicate that the growth trend will continue. The Midyear Economic Outlook, released late last month by the CBER, predict continued growth in the Las Vegas area through 2003 and 2004. The UNLV report estimated a 6 percent increase in housing units by the end of the year and a slightly more modest 4 percent gain next year.

Schwer said new single family homes will continue to drive housing gains thanks to continued migration from other states, low interest rates and affordable home prices.

Home builders in Clark County sold 1,904 new homes in May, up from 1,885 new homes in May 2001, said a report from Home Builders Research Inc. For the year through May, 8,881 new homes had been sold in Clark County, an increase of 15.9 percent, or 2,423 homes, from the same 2002 period, Home Builders Research said.

Over the last five years, home prices in Las Vegas appreciated about 25 percent. In Phoenix, prices jumped about 35 percent. They jumped more than 41 percent in Seattle, 70 percent in Orange County and 82 percent in San Diego.

The Census Bureau report said Nevada's number of housing units increased to 901,597 through July 2002. That's up 9 percent from the Census Bureau's base estimate of 827,457 recorded in April of 2000.

Within the Nevada, Clark County accounts for 620,502 of the state's housing units, followed by Washoe County at 154,029 units, the Census Bureau said.

Based on numerical housing gains, Texas paced the nation with 149,208 housing units added between 2001 and 2002, the report said. Florida followed with 147,377 new units and California added 130,779.