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StumbleReport: Home prices at highest level since March 2009
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 | 9:46 a.m.
The price of existing homes in April in Las Vegas rose to its highest level in more than a year, according to figures released Tuesday by SalesTraq.
The median price of existing homes closed in April was $126,000, the highest median price since it was $134,000 in March 2009, the firm reported. The price is $6,000 higher than March 2010.
Prices had been expected to increase since foreclosure sales have declined in recent months. SalesTraq reported 4,323 existing home closings in April, 348 fewer than March but 3.6 percent higher than April 2009.
Of the 4,323 sales, 1,636 were foreclosure sales by banks and 335 were auctions. Routine sales by owners made up 1,383 sales and there were 969 short sales in which banks allow owners to sell homes for less than what’s owed on the mortgage.
Foreclosure sales fetched a median price of $125,000 compared to $135,000 for routine sales by the owner. Short sale homes sold for $122,000. Normally, foreclosure homes sell for less than those sold in short sales, which means banks are foreclosing on larger homes, said SalesTraq President Larry Murphy.
The price per square foot of existing homes sold in April was $81.61, a $2.09 increase over March. The price was 4 percent higher than April 2009, which suggests that larger homes closed in April than a year ago.
The federal tax credit for buyers required contracts be in place by the end of April but does not require closings until the end of June. The SalesTraq numbers won’t show the impact of the credit for another two months.
Sales numbers released earlier this month by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors showed that there wasn’t a mad rush to buy existing homes in April, but some analysts said new home sales picked up.
In the new home market, SalesTraq reported 480 closings in April, 18 fewer than March but it was 44 percent higher than April 2009. For the year, new home sales were up 11.5 percent over the first four months of 2009, according to SalesTraq.
The median price of new home closings was $204,313, which represents a 5 percent decline from April 2009.
Home construction remains tepid in the area by historic standards with builders taking out 474 permits in April, but that’s well ahead of last year’s pace. That brings the yearly total to 1,918, led by the 700 permits issued in March as builders tried to meet demand with the tax credit expiring, analysts said.
If that pace continues, nearly 6,000 permits will be issued in 2010. Only 3,776 were issued in 2009.
The one figure to watch in the April stats was the 2,146 homes foreclosed upon in the Las Vegas area. That’s about 900 more than March and 91 percent higher than April 2009. It’s the most foreclosures since there were 2,212 in June 2009.
For the year, however, the 5,244 foreclosures are behind the pace of year ago when 20,426 homes were foreclosed.
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Tomorrow there will be another article about how horrible our Real Estate market is.
Great News,and at this rate of progression,maybe just maybe by 2016 i can get what i need to sell my home,and get out of dodge
ROFL,because seriously what else can you do
peace out
warning----> sarcasm above
Given the $8,000.00 tax credit one can derive that buyers gave a little to get more. Prices will now fall to equalize the loss of the government credit.
Can't seem to get banks of their behinds regarding Short Sales. We've been waiting months to hear back on one home we made an offer on.
They have so many foreclosers that the banks don't even know where to start.
i wonder if people understand what "median" is. for those who don't, it is the middle value in a list of values. median does not mean the same thing as average. extrapolated to this article, it means than half the homes sold were for less than the $126,000 median and half were for more.
so don't think your home value is affected by this number. yours is worth more or less than $126,000. other things equal, if you live in a neighborhood where homes comparable to yours sell for $250,000, you should be able to sell it at or near that figure.
Wait till the banks release the next batch of foreclosed properties.
U.S. GDP grew in each of the last 3 quarters. Some declared the stimulus a failure, when they did not see instant results. The fact is jobs are always lagging the numbers recovery in each recession. But those focused on long-term recovery, know the enviroment will be a big winner in the conversion to biofuels & biopower -- cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth
The expiration of the tax credit will slow down sales going forward, and prices may fall a little. The lower end (150K or less) is still investor-driven with lots of cash sales, but the higher priced stuff is still falling due to a lack of demand.
Saw a few news articles in the national press recently regarding loan modifications. Most "trial mods" are falling out, not because the banks don't want them to succeed (they do, sorry all you conspiracy theorists) but due to the fact that the homeowners have too much total debt to continue servicing even the reduced monthly payment.
Car payments, credit cards, taxes and utlities and on and on...it's all just too much for people. We as a society, both as individuals and our governments, are drowning in debt!
With so many LV properties so far underwater, we'll be seeing foreclosures for years and years to come!
The BOOM is ON!
Obama and Bernanke have re-inflated the bubbles.
Get ready for 10$ per gallon of milk as a result.
Mr Vincent
1 Gal. of milk or 1 Gal. of gas =$3.00
What do we need most of?
I have to drive and I love my milk.
Yes they are going to Tax us to our death.
nevada and florida have to most percentage of people behind on their mortgages.
that means MORE foreclosures are in the pipeline.
Yes there are many more foreclosures to come.
stevem... which area in LV is best to buy into? I'm looking REALLY hard now as my retirement is coming up fast. Any info would be great.
Mawzy: I have a bridge to sell if you're interested.
BB... is it in a 'decent' area?
Once again, a $120K house DIDNOT jump to $126K. People just decided to buy houses a little more bigger and expensive.
I hope to return as Buck Wargo in the afterlife.