Skyrocketing building materials prices braking Las Vegas condo construction
Steady and stiff increases in building material prices, coupled with a rise in financing costs are putting the brakes on condo construction in Las Vegas.
In some cases, total building costs have risen a reported 50 percent over a year & time, causing the postponement or scuttling of various high-rise condo projects locally.
A specific focus on building materials price movements was provided June 6 on the front page of the Review-Journal in a well-researched article by Hubble Smith, who covers the waterfront on matters of real estate development. Some of the findings:
- Copper is at an 11-year high, quoting on Monday at $3.64 a pound as compared with about $1.50 a pound in 1995.
- Concrete prices went up sharply and are poised to jump another 6 percent to 7 percent in June.
- Bid from electrical subcontractors that formerly were good for 30 days are now telescoped to 24 and 48 hours.
Lawrence Hallier, developer of Panorama Towers on Dean Martin Drive (the southern segment of the former Industrial Road), told the R-J he spent $8.5 million on the first tower before he made a sale. Hallier said he's seen prices of drywall double and multiply by three to four times for copper since he started building two years ago.
Why all these upward price distortions? Hallier's take: "Construction costs are higher in Las Vegas than New York," he averred. "We compete with casino projects and they're billion-dollar projects."
So, it's high-rise builders competing with high rollers out in the middle of the desert.
