Downtown Set For a Housing Mini-Boom, New Home Sales Continue to Drop

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

According to city real estate specialists, downtown is seemingly generating some heightened interest in its housing options. Though prices are nowhere near the golden days of the mid-2000s boom, interest is definitely there. Offering confirmation, The Las Vegas Sun reports that Newport Lofts, a 2007-built, 168-unit high rise residential project sold out during Q2 of this year. The building stands at Hoover Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard.

As a result, a series of projects are preparing to break ground in downtown in order to fill the need generated by the area’s increasing appeal. This month, the Las Vegas City Council approved a plan for a 240-apartment project at Casino Center and Coolidge Avenue. The project is led by New York developer Barnet Liberman and it relies on funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s TOP program. The plan is to offer affordable units that will be made available for rent. In the developer’s view, it’s the rental market that’s going to revitalize the need for housing in the area.

After a brief period of seemingly positive signs in the Las Vegas market, new-home sales statistics released for the month of August show a discouraging record. It looks like the city is posting its worst numbers in the last 20 years. A record 38,957 transactions were recorded in 2005… in 2010 there were only 5,341 deals.