Real estate sales in July 2018 were not quite as hot as the weather but remained extremely strong.  Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas real estate agents sold 3077 resale single family homes, up 3% from July 2017 but down 3% from June of this year.  With slowly rising interest rates and prices, these are strong numbers.

The median price has hovered in the $289,00-293,000 range for the fourth straight month.  Are prices leveling off, as the $290,000 median price for July might indicate, or do we look back the past three years and see that prices tend to rise early in a year, then moderate to the end of that year?  That has been the case in 2015, 2016, 2017 and, now, 2018, so it is not yet time to say the market has peaked.

Inventory remains very tight with just a 48 day supply of homes without offers.  The industry norm is 180 days for a balanced market, so we are way out of balance toward the sellers’ side.  The last month Las Vegas had a supply of homes over two months was February 2017, so buyers must be extremely motivated and ready to act!  Gone are the days of seeing a home, mulling it over for a few days and asking the sellers for a contribution to the buyer’s closing costs.

Buyers must be prepared with a strong mortgage approval letter and a willingness to get out and see homes as soon as they are on the market.  Cash buyers represent only 18% of the transactions last month, so a loan letter may now be the deciding factor when a seller looks at multiple offers.  Of the 1242 homes homes for sale available at or below the median price of $290,000 August 8, 2018 in Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas, 346 have been on the market 7 days or fewer.  Another 135 have been on the market over 90 days, so you know those homes are overpriced!

Looking for a short sale or foreclosure to purchase at a bargain?  Might want to check another area!  Only 46 foreclosure properties are currently available and 66 short sales.  Thirty-six of the short sales have been on the market over 30 days, as have 14 of the 46 foreclosed properties.  In a hot market, overpriced listings still do not sell.

Overall, the market might be taking a breather or this could possibly be the start of the end of the sellers’ market.  Las Vegas remains a working wage town.  We lack the high-tech salaries that have destroyed affordability in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the building of new homes continues apace. Again, Las Vegas and Henderson alone have 4 of the top 20 selling master planned communities in the nation, and new homes add supply to a tight market.  Wages are inching up and job growth continues to be good, but this is not a town of vast wealth and incomes. Propelled by irresponsible lender practices and a raging speculative fever, the median price for resale homes edged over $300,000 briefly in 2007. Thankfully, the market is slowing as we approach the $300,000 mark again. Perhaps it is time for a pause.