Las Vegas May Be on a Losing Streak When it Comes to Housing

By Alex Girda, Associate Editor

While last week Las Vegas showed some healthy signs regarding the commercial real estate market, it may all be downhill for the housing market. It looks like Las Vegas is set on reaching a new national low in home prices for the recession period.

A Standard & Poor’s National Case-Shiller Home Price Index, presented by The Las Vegas Review-Journal and Vegas INC magazine illustrated the continuous slide in which housing prices in the Las Vegas area has been engaged. The latest recorded drop was 1.1 percent from February to March, with an annual decline of 5.3 percent.

The study also points out that current figures have dipped below the January 2000 level, and Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research, was quoted in LVRJ, saying that it looks like the drop could go on for an indefinite period of time. He also said that the market may be in shambles for the next couple of years and that there are no real signs of a recovery in sight.

Differing views are, however, recorded. In the same LVRJ article, Paul Bell, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, said that the Standard & Poor’s study uses 90-day-old data and that currently a brighter future could be envisioned for the sector. Bell also said that typical homes that are usually in demand are selling at a fast pace and this could be an indication of the better times that loom over residential real estate in Las Vegas.