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Tuesday, May 19, 2009 | 10:07 a.m.
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Homes are more affordable in Las Vegas.
The price of an existing home in April fell to its lowest level since 1998, and the drop generated the most sales since the peak of the market in June 2006, according to statistics released Tuesday by SalesTraq.
The median price of existing homes fell nearly $10,000 in April to $125,000, a 57 percent drop from the peak of the market at $289,500 in June 2006. The average price per square foot was $78.58, a 42 percent drop from $135.73 in April 2008.
In April, 4,063 existing homes were sold, 437 more than March and 78 percent more than April 2008, according to SalesTraq. That’s the most since 4,198 in June 2006.
Foreclosures continued to drive the price decline, accounting for 62 percent of the sales in April. The median price of homes sold by lenders was $115,000, $30,000 less than nonbanked-owned home sales, SalesTraq reported.
The research firm reported that the 1,289 home repossessions in April was the fewest in 16 months, and housing analyst Steve Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions, said that may bode well for the housing market recovery.
April was the third consecutive month that foreclosures dropped and second consecutive month in which foreclosure sales exceeded repossessions. In April foreclosure sales were nearly double the number of foreclosures created, Bottfeld said.
While that’s good news for the market, Bottfeld tempered it by pointing out that in March a self-imposed bank moratorium on foreclosures was lifted and the numbers will spike at the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third quarter.
“Two months of data does not make a trend, but the last two months of data appear to represent significant change and new hope for a shorter negative cycle in Las Vegas,” Bottfeld said.
The number of homeowner defaults remain high, and many analysts expect a spike in foreclosures in the coming months that will further depress home prices. Lenders supposedly have thousands of homes in inventory that they have yet to put on the market, analysts said.
SalesTraq reports the inventory of existing homes is 16,202, about 4,400 fewer than January and the lowest since April 2006. The market has a 5.5 month supply, the firm noted.
There is a very good way to get the houses off the market,and get the values back up? Our government become a major underwriter of the morgages,and put people that have never thought they could own a home in them! It would fill the homes back up,increse the values,and just might make them prouder and feel they have a stake in the country! But will they do such a thing? Hell no! They would rather give our money to the banks so they can continue to spend the way they want,not the way its intended!
rumrunner, that sounds like a noble cause, but isn't that similar to one of the programs that got us into this mess in the first place? I know that's debatable, but I think it certainly added to the problem. Didn't see how to post a link, but see the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/busine.... I'm personally more of a free market guy, but in favor of strictly enforcing the laws that are in place and continue to watch the people that abuse the system and other people. I think that's the way to naturally let this problem resolve itself and not cause more problems in the future. It just requires a little patience, which nobody seems to have, so we just go on shooting ourselves in the foot.
Housing values are gonna flatline for years. People think they're gonna start rising like 2002-2007 & it's NOT gonna happen. When you buy a house-it might go up 2-3% a year from this point on-if you're lucky.
When banks put all of their REO properties on the market, then we'll know if sales are outpacing new foreclosures.
Right now the banks are OVERWHELMED with defaults and walk-aways. They can't handle the volume, nor do they want to take back all of the homes because they would have to write off the loss on their balance sheet. That's a no-go.
By the way Bottfeld, don't try to sound like you've gotten religion suddenly. Former bubble deniers like you lost all credibility years ago, so don't try to sound cautious or bearish. You either have no idea what you're talking about, or you simply lied about the RE market for years because your income was/is directly tied to it.
this is what they call a false dawn or deadcat bounce, people get suckered in buy and then prices collapse, after all we are in the midst of the biggest recession ever, oil prices are on the way back up, of course nothing to do with the fire at a refinery, these people will try and talk up the market at any cost so they can offload what they bought...
Unless you have been out there looking and trying to buy, your "expert" commentaries are laughable.
Oh there are a ton of homes out there "transplanted"....if you have the 15-20% "cash" down. These are new times and "new" standards. No more free rides for those unable to pay. Something Neveda,Florida and California were known for. Pricing in Neveda is going to be rolled back severely for many years.
Sales may be up, but how many of those sales went to speculators? If there were droves of speculators at the top, you can bet the ranch there are even more buying at what they think is the bottom. Those houses are headed back on the market. If the prices keep falling many speculators will dump to cut their losses causing even bigger price drops.
We can look at it like this. Either we keep letting the people outside of the country gobble the house s up,or put americans back in them! I don t think anyone has given this much thought yet,and i have brought it up a few times. What about all those people that bought and lost there homes? There credit is worth nothing,and after haveing good credit,they have below scores!When comes time that they can buy again,it will show on the credit,and will be denied! God bless Obooma!!! And for all of you that continue to blame Bush, we had a democrate congress the last 2 years of his term,and they sat by and did NOTHING!!!
It would make more sense to me for the banks to try and allow the people to stay in their homes and write down the loans. For the banks, it seems to be a loose - loose. Even if they get the home back in pristine condition, they usually still take a loss on the sell. Since they have to discount the home to sell it anyway, why not try to make a deal with the current homeowner.
rumrunner wake up! That is the problem that created this mess. The whole housing thing took good renters and turned them into bad homeowners. How many people that are 100K-300K underwater are going to start to walk away? Right now they are on the rent to own program. When you are that far south on your mortgage you really are only renting from the bank. Renting, but stuck with the upkeep and the taxes. Anyone under that much should just walk away.
Rumrunner....who's gobbling up homes in Las Vegas? Are we being invaded? For the most part and I stress the most part....most of these families never really qualified in the first place to be in a house. You cannot move in with 0% down and go to a closing with 2 not one but two mortgages only because you DON'T qualify for one. I call you a renter...not a home owner.
I for one am glad that houses are now affordable. I just retired in March and yes I put 20% down and was able to purchase a house here in Henderson. People who purchased these houses with no money down and no proof of income or qualifications should not be allowed to buy houses anyway. They should play by the rules and I don't believe that they didn't know what they were getting into. They thought they would be able to sell the house in a couple of years and make money. I for one don't intend to sell my house, I intend to stay it my house until I am unable to take care of myself. I worked too long and hard to be able to AFFORD a home and yes I qualified for the loan and can afford to pay for it with my guaranteed retirement income.
Rumrunner:
Greed on part of both lenders and people subject to the "American Dream" are causes for the current housing crisis, not the Democrats, not the Republicans. Simple, ordinary, #4 of the seven deadly sins.
Stop spitting in the wind, your face is all wet.
It isn't only those who purchased homes w/ no money down or no proof of income who are walking away/foreclosing on homes. There are so many who qualified for their mortgage initially but due to current economic situations (layoffs of one or both owners) can no longer keep up with the payment. I think we've seen the bulk of foreclosures from investor-purchased homes but the next wave is going to be all of the foreclosures from "PRIME" mortgage holders who can no longer afford the payment or who are simply walking away because of how tremendously underwater they are.