In Las Vegas, the sky’s not falling, it’s being purchased
Welcome to 2007 and continued growth in the Las Vegas housing market. We began the year following a 24 percent drop in housing resales. But that was after consecutive year after year of double digit appreciation. Remember that perspective’s important, folks.
2006, with 41,771 existing homes sold, was still our valley’s third-best year on record. Not quite the alarming real estate trend some national publications would lead you to believe.
In addition, 2006 was the first year that a high-rise condo project was the number one-selling subdivision in Las Vegas. Can anyone else see the writing on the wall? Las Vegas is growing up, literally. We’re becoming more of an urban city. Since we’re surrounded by BLM land, it only makes sense that future development will go up or out to outlying areas.
The Residences at MGM had 979 closings in 2006 with an average price of $593,192. Sun City Anthem and Solera, both single family residence subdivisions, were second and third.
In yesterday’s Crystal Ball Steve Bottfeld, principal of Marketing Solutions, was bullish on Las Vegas housing, and Larry Murphy of SalesTraq reported that by his count there are now 542 active subdivisions in the valley with a total of 86,000 lots being developed.
Murphy also reported some stats on home closings. There were:
- slightly less than 100,000 new home closings in the 1980s,
- less than 200,000 new home closings in the 1990s, and
- a projected 325,000 closings in the 2000s.
From all reports, the fundamentals of a strong economy are present with particularly positive housing indicators for 2007.
In short, according to Crystal Ball presenters, by the end of 2007 Las Vegas will once again be making national news with reports of 7 to 9 percent appreciation in median home prices while other markets lag behind.
As Richard Lee said in Preview Las Vegas last week, what Vegas needs is a land expander. Of course, there isn’t such a thing. That is unless you consider building your pie in the sky.
