Southern Nevada Home Prices Holding Their Ground During Crisis

LAS VEGAS – A report released Monday by Las Vegas REALTORS® (LVR) shows local home prices holding their ground amid the coronavirus pandemic and economic downturn, though fewer homes are selling.

LVR (formerly known as the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®) reported that the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during May was $315,000. That was down from an all-time record price of $319,000 in March, but still up 5.0% from a median price of $300,000 in May of 2019. 

The association reported that the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in May was $185,000. That’s up 3.1% from May of 2019.

LVR reported that a total of 2,075 existing local homes, condos and townhomes were sold during May – the second full month since Nevadans were ordered on March 17 to “stay home for Nevada.” Compared to the same time last year, May sales were down 48.1% for homes and down 51.3% for condos and townhomes. Sales were also down from the previous month.

“This crisis has obviously had a big impact on home sales,” said 2020 LVR President Tom Blanchard, a longtime local REALTOR®. “At the same time, it’s encouraging to see home values remaining steady, even with sales activity dropping. The bright spot is the increased activity of homes being placed under contract, which has seen a steady and significant increase since mid-April, which appears to have been the bottom of this housing dip.”

“These are undoubtedly challenging times,” he added. “But I’m optimistic we can get through this faster and in better shape than some people have been predicting. It helps that our local housing market had such a strong foundation heading into this crisis.”

Blanchard pointed out how well the local housing market was performing just three months ago, when home sales were running ahead of last year’s pace and existing local home prices finally broke their all-time record of $315,000 set back in June of 2006. LVR statistics showed that March set a new high-water mark with a median single-family home price of $319,000.

According to LVR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in January of 2012 before rebounding since then.

Even with fewer homes selling last month, Blanchard said the number of homes available for sale continues to shrink and remains below the six-month supply considered to be a balanced market. The sales pace in May equates to less than a four-month supply of homes available for sale.

By the end of May, LVR reported 5,799 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 26.2% from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 1,768 properties listed without offers in May represented a 5.8% drop from one year ago.

LVR reported that 14.5% of all local properties sold in May were…