Housing market downturn hits new low

By Buck Wargo

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Chris Morris

In a sign the Las Vegas housing market continues to deteriorate, foreclosures in January surpassed the sales of new and existing homes for the first time during the downturn.

SalesTraq, a research company that tracks the Las Vegas housing market, reported Monday that 2,177 homes were repossessed in January, surpassing the 1,962 sales in the new and existing home markets.

Sales usually outnumber foreclosures by a large margin, but that changed in January as foreclosures more than doubled from December’s 988. The previous high for a single month was 1,560, in November.

Las Vegas ranked third in 2007 in the nation among metropolitan areas when it comes to foreclosures, according to California-based RealtyTrac.

In contrast, the 901 sales of new homes in January was a 28 percent drop from December and were the fewest sales since the mid-1990s, SalesTraq reported. In the existing home market, the 1,061 sales were 27 percent less than in December and 56 percent below the amount recorded in January 2007.

Home prices continued to tumble in January, according to SalesTraq. That’s bad news for homeowners and builders and good news for those looking for dropping prices.

The median price of existing homes sold in January was $247,000, a drop of $6,000 from December. Prices of existing homes have dropped nearly 15 percent in the past 13 months. The median price was $289,500 in February 2007.

The median price of new homes and condos was $268,000 in January, a drop of $4,500 from December. Prices have fallen 25 percent since the new home market set a record of $355,435 in April 2006.

The inventory of existing homes on the market in January fell for the fourth consecutive month, albeit slightly from December. The Multiple Listing Service contained 23,803 available houses in January, SalesTraq reported.

Analysts have predicted the housing market won’t recover until the inventory declines.