Moody’s ranks Vegas market low

Tuesday, April 20, 2004 | 10:42 a.m.

A report issued today by Moody's Investors Service ranks Las Vegas among the worst commercial real estate markets in the country.

The company's Red-Yellow-Green quarterly survey of U.S. commercial real estate lists the top 100 markets in the company. Las Vegas ranked 99th, ahead of Hartford, Conn.

Sally Gordon, who authored the report, said real estate demand isn't growing as fast as supply.

"The high-growth areas tend to be penalized because they tend to have construction going on and the demand doesn't materialize, leaving you with a boatload of supply," Gordon said.

In Las Vegas, retail supply is growing at a faster rate than income growth, with income growth forecast for next year at 2.8 percent and supply growing at a rate of 5.6 percent for the same period, she said.

Gordon said Moody's tracks rent growth, vacancy rates and tenant turnover in its analysis.

Mark Bouchard, managing director of CB Richard Ellis, a commercial real estate brokerage with offices in Las Vegas, said he was surprised by the findings of the report, but cautioned that he hadn't read all the details.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense to me," Bouchard said. "There are real estate people all over the country who would express that Southern Nevada is one of the better real estate markets anywhere."