Las Vegas home sales, prices stable in July

By Steve Green

Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 | 7:41 p.m.

Las Vegas-area home sales and prices generally held up in July following June's record sales showing, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Monday.

The Realtors said that with bank-owned foreclosure sales still dominating the market, sales of homes, condominiums and townhomes in July totaled 4,602, down 100 from June's record numbers, but the second-best showing on record. The sales generally don't include new homes or for-sale-by-owner transactions.

July's median price of single-family homes was $138,800 and the median price of condominiums and townhomes was $67,000. Compared to the previous month, this represents a 0.9 percent decline in the median price of homes and a 1.5 percent increase in the median price of condos and townhomes.

"We didn’t set another sales record in July, but we came close. This shows that the demand for homes in the Las Vegas area right now remains very strong," GLVAR President Sue Naumann said in a statement. "That’s a good thing for everyone involved in our local housing market. It’s also good to see prices staying about the same the past few months after falling for about two years."

Naumann added that bank-owned properties continued to drive the local housing market, accounting for about 73 percent of all home, condo and townhome sales in July. She said that’s a 1 percent decrease from June.

The Realtors also said:

--The number of local single-family homes sold in July was 3,738, down 1.2 percent from 3,785 in June, but up 44.2 percent from 2,592 sales in July 2008.

--The number of condominiums and townhomes sold in July was 864, down 5.8 percent from 917 in June, but up 141 percent from 358 one year ago.

--The median home price of $138,800 was down 36.9 percent from $220,000 in July 2008.

--For condos and townhomes, the median price of $67,000 was down 50.4 percent from $135,000 one year ago.

The number of local single-family homes listed for sale through July decreased 0.9 percent to 20,423, compared to 20,613 homes listed for sale in June. That inventory of homes is down 12.8 percent from one year ago.

The number of condos and townhomes listed for sale also decreased for the month, down 0.7 percent from 5,416 in June to 5,378 in July. That’s down 2.9 percent from July 2008.

Monday's report from the Realtors follows numbers issued last month for May by Standard & Poors in its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, which showed that despite signs of stabilization nationwide, Las Vegas was among one of a few large cities to see continued declines in prices.

The Las Vegas real estate market has been aided by foreclosure-driven low prices, but has also been hampered by soaring unemployment that makes it impossible for many would-be buyers to qualify for mortgages. Clark County's unemployment rate was 12.3 percent in June.

The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices showed prices in Las Vegas fell 2.6 percent from April to May -- and were down 32 percent from May 2008.