Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

REAL ESTATE:

Home-buyer satisfaction up, J.D. Power survey shows

The housing industry’s slowdown and the need to woo customers have resulted in higher home-buyer satisfaction ratings.

Las Vegas is ranked just below Phoenix in overall satisfaction, according to an annual J.D. Power and Associates survey.

Pardee Homes kept its No. 1 ranking in customer satisfaction and new-home quality in Las Vegas, the survey said. Pardee scored 924 on a 1,000-point scale, up 57 points from 2009 when it edged Meritage Homes by one point.

The increase was part of a trend in Las Vegas for homes bought in 2009. The Las Vegas market averaged 878, up from 825 in 2009 and 799 in 2008. The national average was 826 — the highest since the survey began in 1997.

KB Home placed second with a score of 901, up from 841 a year ago. Others were Lennar Homes, 884 (832 in 2009); Pulte Homes, 879 (832 in 2009); Del Webb, 853 (849 in 2009); D.R. Horton, 851 (736 in 2009) and Richmond American, 845 (816 in 2009).

The ratings are based on builders’ sales staff, warranty, customer service, workmanship, price, home readiness, construction manager, recreational facilities, design center and location.

Brookings report

It will be seven years before the Mountain West region, which includes Nevada, returns to job levels seen before the recession, according to a Brookings Mountain West report.

The second-quarter report from the think tank based at UNLV said the region with Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Idaho and New Mexico saw Las Vegas and Boise decline in jobs. That contrasts to a 1 percent increase in Phoenix.

Brookings reported the gross metropolitan product that measures economic growth had fallen 4.2 percent from its peak in Las Vegas and 0.1 percent from this year’s first quarter.

The report said the region’s housing prices are not likely to fall much further. Housing prices are undervalued in most metropolitan areas, including Las Vegas.

Homes prices had fallen overall in the region to levels 2 percent below where they would have been had they tracked preboom trends in employment and wages over the past decade. It said Las Vegas is 3 percent underpriced.

Las Vegas’ prices have fallen 55.2 percent from their peak compared with the next lowest, Phoenix at 45.6 percent. Las Vegas prices, however, fell only 0.9 percent from this year’s first quarter to the second quarter, the lowest in the region. Phoenix fell 4.4 percent in that time, the report said.

Las Vegas foreclosures

Even though the number of homeowners behind on their mortgage payments is rising, Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada had fewer foreclosures in August, a research firm reported last week.

California-based RealtyTrac said Nevada remained No. 1 in the nation ranking it has held since January 2007, but the state’s foreclosure filings fell 25 percent from August 2009 — the 11th consecutive year-over-year decrease.

Nevada foreclosure filings in August fell 2.5 percent compared with July. More banks have been working with homeowners to approve short sales and take other steps to prevent foreclosures, analysts said.

The bad news is that Nevada still had one filing for every 84 households, which is 4.5 times the national average. No. 2 was Florida with one filing for every 155 households. Arizona was third with one filing for every 165 households. California was fourth with one filing for every 194 households.

Las Vegas had the highest ranking of any metropolitan area of 200,000 or more residents with one filing for every 73 households in August. That ranking occurred despite a 25 percent decline in foreclosure filings from August 2009, RealtyTrac reported.

Modesto, Calif., had the second highest foreclosure rate with one filing for every 95 housing units. Six other California cities were in the top 10.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings in August fell 4 percent from July and 5 percent from August 2009.

In Nevada, notices of default increased by three in August from July to 6,053. The overall decline resulted from a drop in bank repossessions from 3,478 in July to 2,699 in August.

Many fear another wave of foreclosures is coming because more than 20 percent of homeowners are more than 90 days delinquent in their mortgage payments because of the weak economy and weak job prospects.

In other news

• Colliers International Las Vegas will host a seminar Oct. 21 at the Four Seasons, 3960 Las Vegas Blvd. South, on solutions to deal with problems of the Las Vegas economy and real estate market. The program will feature Ross Moore, chief economist for Colliers International in Boston. The other speaker is Ken Wiles, managing director of Acceleron Group in Las Vegas. The event starts at 2:30 p.m., and tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. A reception will follow 4:30 p.m.

• RMI Management of Las Vegas and Reno-based Truckee Meadows Properties have announced a merger of the two community association management companies that will now be called RMI Management. Truckee Meadows Properties founder and CEO Randel Walker will serve as president of the Reno operations. Kevin Wallace will remain as president and CEO officer of RMI.

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