Las Vegas Real Estate Blog

According to a local research expert, a record-high 467 new home subdivisions are being built in Las Vegas Valley, and sales of both new and existing homes will grow by 10 percent this year to more than 100,000 units.

SalesTraq reports that the 10 best-selling subdivisions in the fourth quarter were almost entirely condominium conversions, including the No. 1 subdivision of Meridian on Koval Lane near Flamingo Road.

Additionally, SalesTraq is predicting that appreciation of home values are expected to drop from the 30 percent to 40 percent gains over the last couple of years to more normal increases of 6 percent to 8 percent. The median price of a new home at the end of 2005, including the lower-priced condo conversions, was $313,372, a 6.8 percent increase from the previous year.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 18%

In 1997, the passage of SB 208 placed significant hurdles in the way of developers interested in putting casinos in Las Vegas Valley neighborhoods that were not zoned for casinos. However, a few savvy developers, such as Station Casinos who owned undeveloped casino land prior to the adoption of SB 208 (now NRS 463),made sure their land was grandfathered into the bill. What does that mean for Las Vegas Valley neighborhoods?

Click here to read this story in its entirety.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 17%

A 21.9% increase in Southern Nevada’s utility rates drove the overall cost of living up in the third quarter of 2005. The Releative Cost of Living Index was noted to climb to 114.8 in the third quarter. This was up from 113.3 in the same quarter of 2004.

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 16%

Total estimated population for Clark County grew to 1,815,700 in 2005, a 3.93 percent increase of about 68,705 people over 2004, according to locally prepared population estimates announced by the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition (SNRPC).

The growth rate is down, however, from 2004, when it measured 6.43 percent. In 2003, the rate of growth was 4 percent.

Officials attribute the lower growth rate to a reduction in the overall number of new housing units added to the existing total housing stock. Housing occupancy rates remained high at an overall average of 95.86 percent, according to the Postal Vacancy Survey conducted by the U. S. Postal Service.

(Source: kvbc.com)

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

At a news conference scheduled for Thursday, Matt A. Rose will outline plans for the Ultimate Sports Resort that would include a 26,000-seat arena, a 5,000-seat aquatic center, an air-conditioned driving range and other sports-related developments. The complex would also have a 150,000-square-foot casino, 5,500 hotel rooms and 10 nightclubs.

Rose said he hopes the resort will lure amateur, Olympic and possibly professional sporting events. It will be his first Vegas venture after several years buying and selling apartments and strip malls around Los Angeles.

“We want to be a destination,” he said. “We’ll bring in athletes and people interested in sports and health and fitness and families _ and we have a casino, too.”

Rose has $92.8 million in escrow for 116 acres in an industrial corridor in North Las Vegas and is negotiating construction financing, he said. He has lined up support from the city, a commitment from an experienced casino contractor and retained a former Strip hotel executive.

What he doesn’t have, however, is major money. Rose says he’s talking to banks and other investors about funds for the project, and hopes to break ground in six months, depending on investors’ interest and regulatory approvals. The resort would open in 2009.

Rose is the latest of several sports fans and southern Nevada boosters to pine after a professional sports team. Chief among them is Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who successfully courted the 2007 NBA All-Star Game but has not overcome major league sports officials’ concerns about gambling nor opposition from some in the casino community.

Rose said his dream doesn’t ride on a pro franchise.

He’s targeting amateur and Olympic sports _ from fencing to weightlifting _ that regularly hold annual, well-attended competitions in cities with far less pizazz than Las Vegas. Rose thinks there are enough swimmers, volleyball players and table tennis stars to fill his five planned arenas year round and support a casino and hotel in a city best known as Las Vegas’ growing but grittier northern neighbor.

Real estate analyst Brian Gordon said the off-Strip location may be Rose’s biggest hurdle.

“Developing a critical mass at that site is paramount,” said Gordon, a principal at Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm. “The project is not going to capture foot traffic like we see in properties on or adjacent to the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.”

And it will cost far more. In comparison, casino magnate Steve Wynn spent $2.7 billion on his bronze glass Wynn Las Vegas resort that opened last year with 2,700 rooms on the Strip.

Rose said his project will be both a niche market draw and family friendly destination. The site is a mile south of the Las Vegas Speedway, a successful race track and home to NASCAR races, and will feature go-carts, climbing walls, a skate park and indoor skydiving.

The core of his business model is drawing athletes to the site and keeping them there for the bulk of their stay. His pitch has been well-received by some amateur athletic organizations who are finding it increasingly difficult to locate facilities that can accommodate them.

Kerry Klostermann, secretary general of USA Volleyball, said the Ultimate Sports Resort would be a welcome option, particularly because it’s geared toward athletes. One-third of the casino space would be enclosed and nonsmoking; its entrance would be separated from the main arena.

Gordon said the approach hasn’t been tried before in Sin City.

“Other metro-resorts, they’ve all catered to the leisure and business travel,” he said. “This caters to the sports enthusiast. It targets a very specific segment of the market.”

(Source: HoustonChronicle)

Popularity: 15%

New home buyers start their research much earlier and take far longer to sign a contract than builders tend to think, according to new research.

In a study of buyer behavior that also could have strong implications for real estate brokers and mortgage lenders, the research found that on average, buyers of brand new homes take an average of nearly six months to ink a sales contract — 84 days to do their research and then 80 more days to make up their minds.

When asked about the habits of their clients, however, the nearly 200 builders surveyed estimated that buyers did their homework over a far shorter 35-day period, and signed their names on the dotted line an average of 44 days later.

The fact the purchasers start the home buying process “much sooner than we think they do” means builders are “missing a big chance to get in their (customers’) faces,” said marketing specialist Dan Levitan of Ft. Lauderdale-based Levitan & Associates.

The study of some 1,000 buyers by Harris Interactive also found other areas of disconnect between them and their builders.

For example, while 52 percent use realty brokers, many builders still refuse to deal with real estate professionals or have no formal program for compensating them.

Also, whereas the two largest media buys on the part of builders are newspapers and “other” print publications – and 46 percent plan to boost their spending on print ads this year in the face of slower sales – web sites, signage and the Internet, in that order, were rated as a better source for finding out information by buyers.

Similarly, the Internet, radio and search engines all were rated by buyers as more useful than newspapers.

“The Internet does what we need to get in front of eyes for longer periods,” commented Levitan, who presented the survey’s findings at the National Association of Home Builders’ annual convention in Orlando earlier this month. “It is more credible and valuable, and they say they would use it again.”

But the research also confirmed similar findings of other studies that the Internet loses its luster if inquiries are not answered in a timely manner.

Nearly three out of four respondents said that the timeliness of a builder’s response influenced their decision about from whom they bought a house, and 62 percent said they consider one day or less as an appropriate response time.

(Source: Realty Times)

Popularity: 17%

Which states and cities do baby boomers and seniors prefer for travel, retirement and relocation?

According to a national telephone poll of 600 people, over 85 percent named Arizona, Florida and Las Vegas as favorite vacation destinations and relocation areas.

This survey was conducted by feature editors of www.MatureResources.org, a baby boomer- to senior monthly internet magazine and national resource directory.

With interest in Arizona (The Grand Canyon State), Florida (The Sunshine State) and Las Vegas, Nevada (The City That Never Sleeps) at an all-time high, www.MatureResources.org will now be covering each of them in three special sections within the monthly web-Zine.

Beginning with the February, 2006 online issue, writers will highlight local and state news, tourist attractions and real estate/relocation information.

“Our Internet magazine editors are delighted to be working with local tourism offices, government and state organizations, and businesses,” says Sharon Sultan Cutler, Publisher of the web-Zine. “It’s a win-win situation for our baby boomer to senior online readers to have information readily available.”

These internet features are especially appealing because 71 percent of American baby boomers 50-plus are internet users, while 30 percent of those 65 years and older search the internet for local, national and world-wide news and information. (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2005)

SOURCE: www.matureresources.org

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 25%

Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) January 23, 2006 — “Fortune magazine is wrong. Las Vegas housing prices will NOT decrease 13 percent as they say. Las Vegas Housing prices will rise, not fall in 2006. Yes, there has been a slight correction towards stabilization. But, if you think housing prices in Las Vegas will crash – you don’t know Vegas,” says Don Foster Scoggins of Appraisers of Las Vegas.com.

Scoggins points to the history of Las Vegas, its tremendous population growth and growing economy. He scoffs at the notion of a looming collapse of the Las Vegas real estate market bubble. He cites these highlights of the Las Vegas real estate market saga:

• In 1905, the City of Las Vegas started with only 30 people. Even then, naysayers said the city would not last.
• In 1955, surrounding Clark County had grown to over 25,000. Life magazine published a big cover story asking, “Las Vegas – Is the Boom Overrated?”
• In 1995, when the population topped 1 million, bankers were warning against loaning too much money to prevent “over-building.”
• Nevada has shown the fastest population growth in the nation for 18 years straight.
• In 2005, abut 7,200 people moved here every month, that’s 86,500 in just one year.
• In 2025, about 1.5 million MORE people are expected to be living in the Las Vegas Valley.

That growth rate means a need for more new homes — so the demand for Las Vegas homes will continue. Scoggins argues: “It’s obvious: as demand increases, prices increase. It’s simply the law of supply and demand in action. There is very little land available for development in the central part of Las Vegas, but there are still a whole lot of people moving here (over 200 per day).”

The seasoned Las Vegas real estate appraiser has seen the steady growth in tourism and visitors to Las Vegas. In 1985, Las Vegas had about 14 million visitors. In 1995, it was 29 million. In 2005, there were almost 39 million visitors. 40 million tourists in 2006 will pump a lot of money into the Las Vegas economy. A growing economy and population will continue to drive real estate prices upward.

Scoggins offers some caveats to people who expect the Las Vegas real estate market boom to continue at its rate of hyper appreciation (54% in 2004 and 14% in 2005).

Las Vegas housing affordability

As a result of skyrocketing prices in Las Vegas homes, many young families and retirees will get pushed out of the market. The Las Vegas median home price has increased 96% in five years but the median household income increased only 14%. That in turn, will push some people to shift to other, more affordable locations like Phoenix.

It’s just growing pains

Scoggins warns that Las Vegas real estate investors should expect a lower rate of appreciation (at least compared to the red-hot pace of the last two years). “But, this is not a collapse, it’s just Las Vegas growing pains. To those who bought homes at the tippy top of the market, I’m sorry. Those homes have dropped a little because they were overpriced. But, overall, prices are higher and higher year after year,” Scoggins said.

“Las Vegas is more likely to be destroyed by fire and brimstone than have a collapse of housing prices,” Scoggins concluded.

Popularity: 8%

Mortgage rates are still in the same narrow band they’ve been in since the holidays: 6.125 percent, plus or minus a debate about closing costs, but no points and no origination fee. This narrow range should not be confused with stability.

In the last two days, concerns about Iran have overwhelmed everything; but, before laying out the market implications of that one, everything else first.

At the top of the list of standard economics is the standoff between the bet on economic slowdown and the one that all is well. In late December, bond yields fell in growing belief that a slowdown was inevitable, the Fed was not merely going to stop its campaign but would have to reverse, and the only question for 2006 would be how steep the slowdown. Everybody else — economists, stock-market heroes, small-business execs — disagrees.

The bond (and hence, mortgage) market is stuck, waiting for data to show who is right. On the good-news side, December industrial production rose .6 percent, on target, and capacity in use rose to 80.7 percent, the best figure since 2000. New claims for unemployment insurance fell a surprise 36,000 to 271,000, also the best number since 2000. The slowdown side expects an abrupt cooling in the housing market, and the newest data supports a cool-off: December housing starts fell twice as far as the already-weak forecast, down 8.9 percent, and new permits fell 4.4 percent.

On net, the week’s good-news-bad-news data were a standoff.

The next economic item adding to the appearance of stability is the trading-desk toe-tapping, knuckle-drumming, pencil-rolling, spitball-shooting wait for Ben Bernanke. The Fed’s next meeting is his deal, and nobody wants to place a big bet in advance of his first post-meeting statement, to be released after lunch on Feb 1. The Friday following brings a ton of January data, and then more anxious waiting: no sooner does Bernanke take the chair than he has to show up in Congress on Feb. 15 to describe monetary policy for the coming year.

Be on the lookout for perverse outcomes! If Bernanke signals inflation concern, the economy running unsustainably hot, more rate-hikes to come — that’s the bond market’s dream of Christmas, because it increases the chance of a tough-side Fed error, a recession in which bond owners would make a ton of money. On the other hand, if Bernanke gives us a benign lot of stuff — inflation OK, no more rate hikes — the bond market will lose its hope of Fed-overdoing and recession, and move to it’s standard opinion of Fed chiefs: timid until proven otherwise.

Iran. How can you tell that a geopolitical flyer like that has taken charge of markets?

There isn’t any new economic data today. However, oil has spiked above $66, some buying clearly self-protective in case of supply interruption. A game of boycott chicken is at hand: whether the West took action to choke Iran’s oil exports, or Iran cut off the West in counter-’cott response to sanctions, the world would be short about 3.5myn/bbl/day. Hello, three-digit oil.

How close could such an event be? Pretty good quality information today has Iran pulling financial assets out of Europe, to prevent their being frozen by sanctions. Fridays tend to see action like this, as nobody wants to be exposed over a weekend. Part of gold’s pop above $550 is Iran-related. The Dow is in a 150-point crater today, partly earnings worries, mostly Iran and oil.

The last tip-off is the trade that is not happening. Any geopolitical crisis pushes money to safety in bonds…except one. We have managed to tolerate sixty-buck oil without going into inflation; a hundred bucks plus, and there is no stopping it. Frightened money today went to plain, old, cash.

(Source: Lou Barnes, Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

For more information, contact MillionSaverHomes.com a local Las Vegas real estate broker at 702.212.3513.

Popularity: 9%

The Las Vegas housing market returned to normalcy in 2005 with a 6.8 percent increase in new home prices even as sales set another record, a local research analyst said Wednesday.

The median price in December, in which an equal number of homes sold for above and below that amount, was $309,990, an increase of $19,703 from December 2004, Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research, reported in his year-end statistics.

The price was held down by some 7,700 condominium conversions, which are counted as new homes with first deeds of ownership. Excluding conversions, the median price of a newly constructed, single-family home was $345,130, an 18.9 percent increase from a year ago.

New home sales exceeded the 2004 record by more than 9,000 transactions, finishing at 38,517, up 30.7 percent. Without the conversions, there were 30,750 new home sales, still a record, Smith said.

“The numbers are better than I thought they’d be,” he said. “It’s been a good year. The perception is the market’s doing exceptionally well. The reason the numbers look like that is the conversions, almost 8,000 of them.”

SalesTraq, another Las Vegas housing research firm, reported similar numbers — 38,783 new home closings for the year, up 33.5 percent, and a median new home price of $313,372, up 6.8 percent.

However, there are pockets of concern in Las Vegas, breathing life into “bubble” theorists. Fortune magazine ranked Las Vegas last in the nation for housing value, predicting an 8 percent to 9 percent decline in prices this year.

“Resales? Maybe. New homes? No way,” Smith said.

Inventory of homes for sale remained above 10,000 throughout the year, finishing at 11,497, SalesTraq reported. In January 2004, it was less than 3,000.

The median price of existing homes has flattened out and even dropped late in the year. Still, the $285,000 price in December is up $35,000, or 14 percent, from December 2004.

“Everybody in the business I know is really concerned about what’s going to happen this year because it’s not starting off as strong as some people would like,” Smith said. “I’m not saying it’s going to tank. We’re back to normal. There’s pockets for concern in resales because of the inventory out there.”

One important category that saw numbers fall from the previous year was existing home sales.

SalesTraq reported 54,663 resales in 2005, a 2.3 percent decline from 2004. Resale activity dropped in each of the first seven months of the year, then posted double-digit increases in four of the last five months. The December total of 4,220 was 11.4 percent over December 2004.

“That could be a very good omen for (this) year,” SalesTraq President Larry Murphy said.

Combined new and existing home sales totaled 93,445 in 2005, a 10.5 percent increase over the previous year.

Permits for new home construction decreased by 7.4 percent to 30,249 in 2005, SalesTraq reported. Permit activity was down for each of the first six months, but rebounded in the fourth quarter.

Smith said Las Vegas saw a “softening” in resale prices when they dropped by $5,000 in October, though they’ve since come back. As the inventory of homes for sale is reduced, people will be slapping “for sale” signs on their homes because they think they can benefit from pricing, he said.

“If they think prices are going to take off again like they did in 2004, they’re in for a long wait. That ain’t gonna happen,” Smith said. “The status of our market is not so dependent on what goes on in Las Vegas this year, but it’s dependent on what goes on in California. We’ve already seen markets over there hit the wall in San Diego and Orange County and other places, too.”

Linda Rheinberger, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, said she saw more of a controlled market last year with fewer investors because they couldn’t charge adequate rents.

“Will it continue? Now that rentals are picking up, maybe investors will come back,” she said. “The rental inventory, for a while, we were drowning in houses. Now we’re back where we should be. It’s like musical chairs, if you get caught with the last chair.”

Source: Hubble Smith, Review-Journal

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