Renee Burrows - Las Vegas NV Valley - Homes For Sale - SRES - SRS - AHWD - ABR

Economic Conditions for the Las Vegas Valley February 2008

Housing Conditions:

• Foreclosure/Short Sale Listings (3/31/2008): Total Listings 22,502; Short Sales: 5138, 22% of all listings; Bank Owned Listings: 2175, 9.6% of all listings.
• New Home Sales (February 2008, units sold): 786 Year Change -31.2% (excl condo conversions, highrises)
• New Home Sales (February 2008, median price): $273,000 Year Change -17.3% (excl condo conversions, highrises)
• Existing Home Sales (February 2008, units sold): 1529 Year Change -34.4%
• Existing Home Sales (February 2008, median price): $235,000 Year Change: -18.7%
• New Home Permits (February 2008): 391 Year Change -69.4%
• Rental Rate (MLS Monthly Average January 2008): $1511/month

My analysis: Resale listings are down and pendings are up sharply. REO listings are in a seller's market. The rental market has been consistently rising since November 2006. Fire sale prices remain attractive to both long term investors and buyers tired of paying rent.

New Residents/Employment Conditions:

• New Residents (February 2008): 5,694, Year Change -16%
• Total Employment (January 2008): 921,400, Year Change +0.9%
• Unemployment Rate (January 2008) 5.7%, Year Change +21.3%

My analysis: The rising unemployment rate concerns me. Availability of jobs will not keep new residents streaming in to town. Could be tied to construction jobs lost and lack of home equity money for home improvement services

Tourism/Gaming Conditions:

• McCarran Airport Total Passengers (January 2008): 3,576,857 Year Change -2.8%
• Gaming Revenue (January 2008): $928,650,794, Year Change -4.1%
• Visitor Volume (January 2008): 3,507,322, Year Change -1.1%
• Convention Attendance (January 2008): 677,978, Year Change -13.1%
• Hotel/Motel Occupancy (January 2008): 84.9% Year Change -0.6%

My analysis: Declining convention attendence should be a concern but all other numbers are consistent and just down slightly

Sources: Salestraq, Home Builder's Research, Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas Convention & Visitor's Authority, Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

We are representing several buyers at today's auctions.

He just called me and told me it is PACKED and some of these homes are going for incredibly low prices even with the amount of buyers.

He said they are going by area and the older homes are up first and it doesn't appear that there is too much interest in the older homes. Older in Las Vegas area are homes built in the 50s and 60s by the way!

It will be interesting to hear from him as the day goes on! His buyers are mainly interested in the NW from the Lakes to north of Summerlin (before the new master planned community of Providence.)

I will keep the updates going on this post. There will be more auctions in April so I will let you know when I get more details on that. These auctions will not affect MLS market statistics as they were mainly expired listings.

I thought we were going to cap off about a week and a half ago but we are still watching those pendings rise to the tune of 30-50 new pendings per day!

Currently our Las Vegas REO (bank owned, foreclosure) market has 4.5 months inventory and is definitely a seller's market. The MLS has added a new field one week ago for these types of listings, so my the numbers could be a little off and I will have to wait a couple of months before pulling numbers again. We are going to see another auction this coming Saturday. Most of the homes are expired listings so we won't see a major swing in the listed REO market. The only thing our market will gain is more attention (and it certainly has!!)

Here is a snapshot of valley listings:

All SFR, Townhome, Condo Listings:

• Listings (12/9/2007): 25691
• Under Contract (12/9/2007): 2304
• Sold November: 1137
• Month's Inventory: 22.5

All SFR, Townhome, Condo Listings:

• Listings (2/10/2008): 23665
• Under Contract (2/10/2008): 3107
• Sold January 2008: 1164
• Month's Inventory: 20.3

All SFR, Townhome, Condo Listings:

• Listings (3/20/2008): 22,644
• Under Contract (3/20/2008): 4516
• Sold February 2008: 1318
• Month's Inventory: 17.2

In a Little Over One Month: Listings are down 1021 units, pendings are up 1409 units, closings are up 154 units and absorption is down three months. LET THE CLOSINGS BEGIN! This is amazing to watch the market turn in front of our eyes. No doubt the FHA limits rising + prices dropping has helped stimilate our market and the pent up demand!

How exciting that we get to have more auctions on the way when the December auctions did a great job stimilating interest in our real estate market, specifically REO (bank owned) listings.

My leads have switched from rental leads to buyer contacts overnight. Price corrections mean that renters, who have the income and credit to qualify using FHA or VA loans, can buy for at or almost the same price of renting. Investors can experience positive cash flow.

Back to the auctions.................

280 Properties

Homes Open for Inspection:

• 3/8/2008 10 am-5 pm
• 3/15/2008 10 am-5 pm
• 3/16/2008 10 am-5 pm

Auction #1: Saturday March 22, 2008 Cashman Center. Registration 8 am, auction begins promptly at 9:30 am.

Auction #2: Monday March 24, 2008 Plaza Hotel. Registration 5:30 pm, auction begins promptly at 7 pm.

If you need buyer representation or have questions, please call or contact me.

Average & Median rents decreased slightly in January 2008. Inventory has dipped and demand is very high in January traditionally. February's numbers are promising to be pretty for landlords! Absorption has decreased tremendously and with the mortgage credit crisis and valley demand for housing, it is not surprising at all!

Units Leased:

• January 2008: 1500
• December 2007: 1156
  November 2007: 1452
  October 2007: 1501
  December 2006: 1052
• January 2007: 1262

Average Monthly Rental Rates:

• January 2008: $1500
• December 2007: $1531
• November 2007: $1493
• October 2007: $1511
• January 2007: $1295

Median Monthly Rental Rates:

• January 2008: $1200
• December 2007: $1295
• November 2007: $1200

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