New home sales set January record

Jennifer Shubinski

Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

The demand for new homes in the Las Vegas housing market reached record levels in January and the median price of a new home exceeded $300,000 -- a more than 50 percent increase over last year.

In its monthly newsletter, Home Builders Research Inc. reported that there were 2,340 recorded new home sales in January, which includes 333 apartment conversions.

Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research, reported that the number of new home sales recorded in January, including apartment conversions, was the highest January total ever.

Apartment-to-condo conversions are included in new home sales because they are classified as a "new" product.

Prices for new homes continued to set records as well.

The new home median price excluding condo conversions was $307,500, a year-to-year increase of $103,013, or 50 percent. If condo conversions, which generally sell for far less than new single-family homes, are added to the equation, the median new home price was $282,548 in January.

Resale homes experienced a 12 percent decline in recorded sales. There were 3,587 recorded resales in January, 493 fewer than January 2004, Smith reported. But it is 619 more -- or almost 21 percent -- than January 2003, the firm reported.

The median price of the recorded resales in January was $251,000, a modest increase over December's median price tag of $250,000, but it is a 35 percent increase over January 2004, when the median resale price was $185,000, Home Builders Research reported.