Home sales stay hot, but cool a bit

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009 | 3 a.m.

The Las Vegas housing market slowed down in August, but demand remains strong compared with a year ago.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported the 3,229 sales of single-family homes in August were 14 percent fewer than July’s 3,738 sales.

The median price of homes sold in August fell 2.4 percent to $135,500 from $138,800 in July, according to the group. Prices have fallen 36 percent in the past year.

Sales of homes, condominiums and town houses fell from 4,602 in July to 4,039 in August, the group said.

Condominium and town home sales fell by 6.3 percent to 810 in August. Their median price fell by 1.1 percent to $66,288.

The group tracks home sales on the Multiple Listing Service; most of which are existing homes, but it includes some new homes.

President Sue Naumann said the August numbers show demand is high. Sales were 27 percent higher than August 2008.

Bank-owned properties accounted for 70.5 percent of all housing sales, which is down from recent months, she said.

California-based RealtyTrac reported Nevada retained its No. 1 spot in foreclosure filings: 17,902 in August, down 8 percent from July, but 53 percent higher than August 2008.

Despite home sales being up 27 percent compared with August 2008 and condo sales being up 110 percent, it’s evident what the dip in prices has done to real estate agents’ commissions. The value of homes sold in August was $531 million, a 16 percent decline from August 2008. Condo and town house sales, however, had a value of $77 million, 22 percent higher than August 2008.

The Realtors’ group reported 20,999 homes and 5,508 condos and town houses on the market at the end of August. Both categories increased by 2 percent compared with July.

A new category that began in August tracks available units. It excludes homes that don’t have pending or contingent offers.

That category shows 8,579 homes and 2,545 condos and town houses are available. The median prices for available homes was $185,000 — $30,000 higher than when contingent and pending sales are included.

It shows how much activity is centered on lower-priced properties, analysts said.

“It appears that in August only 41 percent of the nearly 21,000 total reported listings did not have an offer,” said John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting. “This is an encouraging sign.”

In August 5,104 new listings were reported, about the same as July, but 4 percent lower than August 2008. The median price of the new listings is $144,900, a 3.3 percent decline from July.

As for condos and town houses, 1,271 new listings were reported in August, a 5 percent decline from July. The median price of the new listings was $73,500, a 2 percent decline from July.

Fifty-six percent of homes and 55 percent of condos and town houses sold within 30 days. That is up from 49 for both homes and condos in July, the group reported.

RealtyTrac reported 8,031 notices of default were filed in Nevada in August, compared with 7,139 in July and 8,726 in June.

The firm reported 14,940 filings in Las Vegas in August, one in every 53 housing units. That’s more than 6.7 times the national average and the highest foreclosure rate of metropolitan areas with a population of at least 200,000.

Reno-Sparks entered the top 10 at No. 7 with one filing for every 86 housing units.