Las Vegas Real Estate in March: Sales Increased 8.5% YoY

This is a key distressed market to follow since Las Vegas has seen the largest price decline of any of the Case-Shiller composite 20 cities.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported GLVAR reports local home sales spring forward

According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in March was 3,358, up from 2,452 in February and up from 3,094 one year ago. Compared to the previous month, GLVAR reported that sales were up 37.8 percent for single-family homes and up 33.7 percent for condos and townhomes. Compared to March 2014, sales were 6.7 percent higher for homes and 17.1 percent higher for all types of condos and townhomes.
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GLVAR continued to track fewer distressed sales and more traditional home sales, where lenders are not controlling the transaction. In March, 8.3 percent of all local sales were short sales – which occur when lenders allow borrowers to sell a home for less than what they owe on the mortgage. That’s down from 9.3 percent in February and from 12.9 percent one year ago. Another 9.3 percent of March sales were bank-owned, down from 9.7 percent in February and down from 11.7 percent last year.
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The total number of single-family homes listed for sale on GLVAR’s Multiple Listing Service in March was 13,532, up 2.6 percent from 13,188 in February, but down 3.0 percent from one year ago. GLVAR tracked a total of 3,613 condos, high-rise condos and townhomes listed for sale on its MLS in March, up 1.5 percent from 3,558 in February, but down 2.4 percent from one year ago.

By the end of March, GLVAR reported 7,257 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That’s down 0.8 percent from February, but up 12.2 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 2,445 properties listed without offers in March represented a 0.8 percent increase from February and a 6.5 percent increase from one year ago.
emphasis added

There are several key trends that we've been following:

1) Overall sales were up 8.5% year-over-year.

2) Conventional(equity, not distressed) sales were up 18.6% year-over-year.  In March 2014, only 75.4% of all sales were conventional equity.  In March 2015, 82.4% were standard equity sales.   Note: In March 2013 (two years ago), only 55.5% were equity!  A significant change.

3) The percent of cash sales has declined year-over-year from 43.1% in March 2014 to 32.4% in March 2015. (investor buying appears to be declining).

4) Non-contingent inventory is up 12.2% year-over-year. The table below shows the year-over-year change for non-contingent inventory in Las Vegas. Inventory declined sharply through early 2013, and then inventory started increasing sharply year-over-year. It appears the inventory build is slowing  - but still ongoing.

Las Vegas: Year-over-year Change in Non-contingent Inventory
Month	YoY
Jan-13	-58.3%
Feb-13	-53.4%
Mar-13	-42.1%
Apr-13	-24.1%
May-13	-13.2%
Jun-13	3.7%
Jul-13	9.0%
Aug-13	41.1%
Sep-13	60.5%
Oct-13	73.4%
Nov-13	77.4%
Dec-13	78.6%
Jan-14	96.2%
Feb-14	107.3%
Mar-14	127.9%
Apr-14	103.1%
May-14	100.6%
Jun-14	86.2%
Jul-14	55.2%
Aug-14	38.8%
Sep-14	29.5%
Oct-14	25.6%
Nov-14	20.0%
Dec-14	18.0%
Jan-15	12.9%
Feb-15	15.8%
Mar-15	12.2%