March 8, 2011: The Southern Nevada housing market bounced back slightly in February with increased sales, but it wasn’t enough to prevent home prices from slipping again over the past year.
The 2,591 sales of single-family homes in February were 3.3 percent higher than January and 8.4 percent higher than February 2010, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported today.
The median price of those homes was $128,000. While up 2.4 percent or $3,000 from January, the price fell 5.7 percent from February 2010. That downward trend may not stop soon. The median price of new listings was $134,900 in February, up 1.4 percent from January but 10 percent below where it was in February 2010.
The GLVAR reported that 53.8 percent of the homes purchased in February were with cash, up from 51 percent in January. GLVAR President Paul Bell, who’s optimistic about sales, said that trend is likely to continue as long as lending standards remain tight and lower-priced, bank-owned homes remain available. “Most of these cash buyers are investors who are renting out, rather than occupying these homes,” Bell said. “While it would be ideal to see more owner-occupants buying these homes, that’s not realistic right now in this market,” states the Las Vegas Sun.
