Home sales way up!
Sales of homes in the Las Vegas area market have increased greatly over the last few years. The fourth quarter of 2007 was the low point with only around 4,500 housing units sold. The second quarter or 2011 shows around 15,000 unit sold. See graph below.
Prices way down!
Prices have been in a free fall for several years. Below is a graph that illustrates this. I have personally documented the decline for free standing homes since July 2006 when the median selling price was $319,000. In July of this year the median price was $122,000. The above graph shows even steeper declines as it factors in condos, townhomes and manufactured homes as well as free standing homes.
What is happening?
Too much supply, even for the high demand. This is likely to continue for a few more years with more foreclosures and short sales coming on the market.
Want to look like genius?
Homes are considerably undervalued, priced well below replacement cost in most cases. I have no crystal ball, but my strong feeling is that anyone who buys as much real estate as they can today now will look like genius 5 years from now.
