Las Vegas housing prices held steady in January at a median of $345,000, which broke the record in November and remained unchanged in December. But, according to The Las Vegas Realtor Association, inventory remains extremely low around the valley.
I believe this is in part due to Appraisers being conservative in their valuations. A healthy market is six months of inventory (days on market before an offer is accepted) as of today, we are around 3 weeks. The current lack of inventory makes it difficult for both realtors and home buyers. Every time you go try to show a listing you have to call first just to see how many offers, not if there’s an offer, but how many offers there are to see if it’s worth your buyer’s time to see it. I am also seeing offers on listings that are not contingent upon appraisal which prices some people out of the market because they cant compete.
According to Mike PeQueen, a financial expert with Hightower Las Vegas, “We are in a strange situation with the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums that are still underway.” PeQueen says it’s only one of the contributing factors to the low inventory. “One of the other things that could be impacting our real estate market, and others around the country, is investor interest in owning rental homes.”
“We’ve never seen a government say to private real estate owners, ‘you can’t evict people who don’t pay their mortgage or their rent.’ So how that will be impacting this real estate market is going to be the real estate story in Southern Nevada for the rest of 2021. We don’t know if those artificial means of keeping people in their homes is going to lead to a huge turnover or not. It’s a little too early to tell,” he adds.
Another factor in the low inventory, according to Las Vegas Realtors President Aldo Martinez, is the valley’s unemployment situation. He says there is likely a large number of people around Las Vegas who would like to sell their existing home and buy something else, but they’re stuck where they are because they can’t get a new home loan because they’re not working. “Can I qualify for a loan?” Martinez asks as he shakes his head ‘no’. “I don’t have a job. How many people do we have in that situation in the Las Vegas valley? Those people don’t have jobs to go buy a home, so even if they want to sell, they can’t.”
For those who can qualify for a mortgage, Martinez says this is a perfect time to upsize because interest rates are so low. “You’re going to see some people that want to take advantage of this interest rate because you could upgrade,” he said. “I can take a $335,000 home that I bought in 2018 with a 4.5% interest loan, or 5%, and I can buy a $455,000 home now, and still my payment will be less than what it was.”
Martinez also sees more homes coming on the market in the coming weeks. “It always happens every January. People that held off in October, November and December because the holidays and didn’t want to be bothered with all that, start to bring their properties to the market in January. And, as they start to get the picture a little better resolved, they bring in more properties in February and more in March, and we start to go in to our normal market which is two to three months of inventory, max.”
The moral of the story is that if it’s the right time for you to buy a bigger home or downsize, you will not have a problem getting an offer, likely several, and at or above your list price.
Stacy takes the responsibility of selling your home to heart. She understands the challenges, timing and sensitivities that surround this decision. Her team provides the tools to guide you through the process and successfully sell your home.
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