Las Vegas Real Estate News

Single-family home median prices saw a slight increase according the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors and stood at a record $312,500 in December. The median price in November was $310,000. Though the number of homes sold showed a slight drop. For single family homes sales this drop was 0.2 percent and condos sales were down by 2.3 percent.

Despite the drop in sales Las Vegas is still proving to be a strong and stable housing market considering these are the lean months which is traditionally a slow period for buying and selling homes.

Overall housing activity is expected to slow down this year. This is due to pullback of investors and also rise in mortgage rates. Investors are getting the jitters and there is steady rise in the pull out of investors as they try to cash in on their purchases and exit the real estate market while it is still up.

Investors pulling out will be the major factor affecting real estate prices and market this year according to real estate experts.

Decling Resales in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Housing Market has seen a significant drop in resales. Only 4,279 resales were recorded which is 2.2 percent drop from last year. Resales are down for whole year by 9.3 percent and stand at 54,288.

When the home prices were appreciating at 40 to 50 percent in 2004 a lot of homeowners put up their for sale to cash in on the windfall. This resulted in more than 15,000 homes being offered for resale in short period of six months.

This increase in inventory resulted in less number of multiple offers and houses started staying longer on the market. Then again investors who had invested in real estate are getting out of it as they sense a slow down in the real estate prices all this adding to the inventory of resale properties and slow down in their offtake.

The decline in resales in Las Vegas is similar to what is being witnessed throughout the country. Resales fell for the second month in a row. It fell by 1.7 percent in November to an annual rate of 6.97 million units which is the lowest since March according to NAR.

Vegas Grand

After several hiccups and false starts Vegas Grand is expected to go start construction as it received the required building permits. Vegas Grand is located on the Flamingo Road and Swenson Street.

The $650 million project will begin construction for stage I of Bella Venezia which will consist of 212 units. Summit Builders are the new general contractors for the both the phases of this project.

The project faced several cost overruns and delays as the original estimate for construction cost was only $225 million but with in few months the cost was raised to $325 million. The developers then raised the prices of individual units by $100,000 leading to a class action lawsuit and further delays.

The Vegas Grand site is located where the Flamingo and Tropicana washes converge. This required extensive drainage and environmental work before construction permits were issued to the developers.

Finally the project seems to be taking off and the contractors have started moving heavy construction machinery on to the site.