The Las Vegas housing market is somewhat competitive. Homes in Las Vegas receive 2 offers on average and sell in around 33 days. Our last statistic from the Las Vegas Association of Realtors is that the number of available homes are down 37% (August 2023) versus August of 2022.
Why is the Las Vegas housing market one of the hottest in the country?
Las Vegas seemed to buck the trend from most of the rest of the country. Prices remained virtually the same due to a shortage of available homes and a significant increase in population not only during the pandemic but also over the past decade. Also, relative to surrounding states, our housing prices are lower than other metropolitan areas. Many people are moving here because they can work from home, are retiring, or to be close to family. Lastly, due to the number of available jobs and relatively low cost of living.
So why buy now?
- Home prices are expected to continue to go up next year.
- The shortage of available homes for sale is expected to continue.
- With the median home price hovering around $450,000 and the entry level home price around $400,000, many people will be “priced out” with much more of an increase.
- When interest rates are lowered you will have a whole bunch of buyers competing for homes so you’ll see multiple offers, offers not contingent upon appraisal and offers over list price.
- Many Sellers that are motivated are offering to help buy down your interest rate so contributing 1% – 2% towards your closing cost.
- Home Builders are offering a lot of incentives such as lower interest rates (in the 5% range) as well as offering to pay closing cost or paying for upgrades.
- Lenders have several different programs to from interest rate buy-downs to ARMs to down payment assistance.
But interest rates are high.
Relatively speaking they are not high at all. In 2000, interest rates were right around 8%. They dipped down to 5.75% range in 2005 and the housing market in Las Vegas was on fire much as it was in the past few years. The 2%-3% interest rates that we saw were the lowest in history and highly unlikely to be repeated.
The homes that are listed are likely due to a lifestyle change – downsizing, retiring, moving out-of-state, or needing a bigger home and if motivated, the right Realtor can do some serious negotiating in your favor.
Are you interested in buying a home?
Call us to answer all of your questions and weigh your options. We even have a handful of different lenders that we can refer you to with all types of loan programs.
