As of today, March 19, 2007 there are approximately 16,700 (single family) houses on the market. Are the numbers really coming down? Is our market getting better? Or are buyers just simply coming out and buying a little more? Last year, some areas of town did, as well as continue to do, much better than others with sales. I have included a chart showing the locations according to the Las Vegas MLS (as we agents know them). I will touch on some of the highest sellers on the chart, and give a brief synopsis of each area.
Las Vegas MLS Chart
If you notice, the top seller last year was area 103 (with 2945 units sold), which is largely what is referred to as North Las Vegas. Largely bought out by investors, this was at the height of new construction in 2004-2005 (Aliante, and a few other large communities). By the beginning of 2006, many investors seemed to be losing interest and money in the area. The 2-year arms were coming around, they couldn’t find enough tenants to fill their houses, (due in part to the slow down of the market as a whole), and there became a problem with the rent comps for the area, that they were not even remotely high enough to compensate for the prices of the homes (at the height of 2004, the prices were reaching the $500-$600,000’s for a 1600 sq. ft. 3-4 bedroom house).
Investors began to respond to all this by “flooding” the resale market and dumping all their properties on it. This created some large pockets where practically every house on every street was for sale (again Aliante was a good example of this). Would-be buyers were hesitant to buy any of these, thinking (firstly that these were primary home owners selling) that there was something seriously wrong with the community or the area, and that is why everyone was selling. Prices came down, and buyers abated their hesitations. The completion of the beltway (sort of a freeway or expressway, known as the 215), which runs right through area 103, helped with the traffic flow and made the commute easier for all the residents.
The second largest selling area of town for 2006 was Henderson (area 606 with 1890 units sold) which includes the areas known as Anthem, Anthem Highlands, MacDonald Ranch, and Seven Hills. This has been a highly desirable area for the past 3-4 years now (ever since it was first constructed) due to its close proximity to the strip, the airports (McCarran is about 10 minutes away, and the business airport which is practically bordering Seven Hills), and the abundance of shopping and dinning establishments that have been placed all along the main street (Eastern Ave.). And with the bulk of the homes less than five years old, the entire area is practically brand new.
For the next highest seller on the totem, we go to area 503 (1809 units sold). This is the area neighboring Summerlin to the South. Summerlin certainly has the prestige and the name behind it, but people aren’t always so eager to pay the fees associated with the master plan. The alternative, buy a house right next to the master plan, that way you can enjoy the geographic association (perhaps even some of the higher appreciation) without the extra expenses (SIDs/ LIDs, assessments, and even the master plan fee itself which sometimes runs about $100/mo.). This is over and above the community HOA fees which can be equal or greater to the master plan fee.
Following Summerlin, we go over to area 303, commonly referred to as Silverado Ranch (based on the street that runs directly through it). Silverado is just below Seven Hills/Anthem, closer still to the airports (however not up against them). Slightly older than Seven Hills, many of these homes were build in the mid to late 1990’s, however they are contained in a great community. There is currently quite a bit of new construction going on there, as well as some large areas of vacant land that will undoubtedly be under way shortly. The advantages of this area are that some of the resale homes have larger than average lots attached to them (at least compared to the current new construction). Also, the geographic proximity to Seven Hills makes for potentially good resale.
There are a few other map areas that were high sellers on the MLS map, these include: area 102 (North West Las Vegas), area 502 (Summerlin which ranks 5th in resale for units sold last year). As a side note, Summerlin had an estimated population of 22,129 in 2006 (Wikipedia).
When looking over the chart, many things are brought to light about last year. The average time on market for a resale home in 2006 was 57.0 days (for Clark County only). There were a total of 31,385 units sold last year (this is MLS data, it does not include new construction or for sale by owner properties). The average price in the valley was $336,446.12. Although we are still seeing some “adjusting” going on with the market, overall we seem to have leveled out. And whether we remain at this level, drop a bit more, or begin to increase again, real estate in general remains one of the best investments out there.
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Disclaimer: These reports reflect the views and opinions of the Advisors and are not necessarily the views and opinions of NARREIA.
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