Home Sales Close to Record Numbers, Prices Reach New Lows

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

The area’s housing market is proving extremely attractive to buyers—in fact, August’s figures nearly matched a two year-old record. According to data from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR), August had a combined number of sales—including single-family homes, condominiums and town houses—totaling 4,693 transactions. This stands only nine sales short of the record set in June 2009 when 4,702 transactions were reported. Compared to just one month ago, the increase in number of sales was a dramatic 16 percent from the recorded 4,037 sales.

When breaking down the data from GLVAR, VegasINC magazine found that single-family figures were also in the top three and were outpacing July 2011 by 17 percent, and outpacing August 2010 by an impressive 31.5 percent. In August 3,706 homes were sold. August’s condo sales were record-breaking: the 987 sales trumped any other single month’s recorded figures.

According to GLVAR president Paul Bell, who was quoted by the same business magazine, an even higher number of sales might have been possible, had the banks been more flexible in accepting short sales. The nearly record-breaking numbers recorded in August came as a result of factors discussed during past months such as high investor demand, low prices, and low interest rates.

However, the large number of home sales could not prevent prices from continuing their downward spiral. The median single-family home price has now dropped to $120,000, meaning a 1.6 percent drop compared to July, and a 14 percent drop since August 2010. Town homes/condos commanded a median price of $56,000, meaning a 5.6 percent drop from July or 16.4 percent decline compared to a year ago.