By Jeff Pope (contact)

Fri, Nov 21, 2008 (midnight)

The Southern Nevada housing market continues to see a spike in sales as the price of new and existing homes continues its slide and the number of available homes remains the same compared to last year.

New and existing home sales in the Summerlin area increased last month from September while the median price rose slightly, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

In October, 298 new and existing homes sold in the Summerlin area at a median price of $255,000. The median price was up from $250,000 on 288 properties sold in September, but was off compared to $330,000 on 146 homes sold in January.

The Realtors' association reported that the median price of all houses, condos and townhouses sold in Southern Nevada continued to decline in October, dropping more than 30 percent from October 2007. However, sales were up 179.1 percent for homes and 110.2 percent for condominiums and townhomes, compared to October 2007.

Bank-owned properties continue to bring down prices and accounted for about two-thirds of all homes and condos sold valleywide in October, association President Patty Kelley said in a statement.

The number of homes sold last month was 2,718, a decrease of 2.3 percent from September, when 2,783 homes sold.

October's number was up from 974 homes sold in October 2007.

The median price of a single-family home sold in the Las Vegas area decreased by 2.6 percent from $195,000 in September to $190,000 in October. That's down 30.8 percent from October 2007.

It's not clear if the local housing market has hit the bottom, but Kelley said history shows these prices won't last forever. And the number of available homes increased .6 percent in October. The inventory of homes is down 4.1 percent from last October, despite Las Vegas toping the nation's metropolitan areas in foreclosure filings again last month.

California-based RealtyTrac reported Las Vegas had one filing for every 62 households, more than seven times the national average.

The 12,155 filings in Las Vegas were 6 percent greater than September and 104 percent higher than October 2007.

There were 5,738 notices of default filed in September and 2,976 homes foreclosed upon in Clark County, which had 6 percent more filings than in September and 104 percent more than October 2007.

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or jeff.pope@hbcpub.com.