GLVAR reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during May 2018 was $295,000. That’s up 2.1 percent from the previous month and up 18.0 percent from $250,000 in May of 2017.

The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in May was $160,000, up 16 percent from the same time last year.

“At the rate we’re going, with prices going up by nearly $5,000 per month, it’s possible that local home prices could finally get back to their all-time peak sometime later this year,” said 2018 GLVAR President Chris Bishop.

Bishop further commented, “Most major markets around the country have already surpassed their peak home prices. With the local economy and job market continuing to post some of the biggest gains in the nation, I think it’s only a matter of time before we set an all-time record for local home prices. This has already occurred with new homes built here in Southern Nevada. For these reasons and more, we don’t buy into some recent reports suggesting that homes here are somehow overvalued.”

According to GLVAR, the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada peaked at $315,000 in June of 2006. Prices hit a post-recession bottom of $118,000 in early 2012.

Bishop said a tight housing supply has been one factor pushing up prices. Southern Nevada continues to have about a month and a half supply of existing homes available for sale when a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.

By the end of May, GLVAR reported 4,118 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 17.2 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 799 properties listed without offers in May represented a 26.8 percent increase from one year ago.

Bishop said more homeowners would consider selling if there were more homes being built and available for them to buy. He cited recent surveys by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) showing more than 70 percent of U.S. homeowners think it’s a good to time to sell.

The low supply may also be slowing down local home sales, which have been running roughly even with last year’s sales pace so far this year after increasing in recent years. The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during May was 3,890. Compared to one year ago, May sales were down 10.7 percent for homes and down 3.8 percent for condos and townhomes.

GLVAR reported that 24.3 percent of all local properties sold in May were purchased with cash. That compares to 26.9 percent one year ago. That’s well below the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active in the local housing market, but have been playing a much smaller role than they were five years ago.

Meanwhile, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 2.6 percent of all existing local home sales in May, down from 6.8 percent of all sales one year ago.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of May 2018. GLVAR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not necessarily account for newly constructed homes sold by local builders or homes for sale by owners.

Other market highlights include:

• The total value of local real estate transactions tracked through the MLS during May was nearly $1.1 billion for homes and more than $127 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in May were up 2.5 percent for homes and up 11.2 percent for condos and townhomes.
• Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In May, 87.2 percent of all existing local homes and 91.4 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 81.6 percent of all existing local homes and 87.3 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.

The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes was $280,000 last month, up 1.8 percent from February and 15.7 percent from March 2017, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

Buyers picked up 3,152 single-family homes in March, up 48.1 percent from February but down 1.3 percent from a year earlier.

Availability remained tight, with 3,835 such houses on the market without offers at the end of March, up 5 percent from February but down 30.1 percent from a year earlier.

The GLVAR reports data from its listing service, which largely includes previously owned homes. Single-family houses make up the bulk of Las Vegas’ market.

Sales and prices usually climb in the spring, but prices for houses and condos “are going up faster so far this year than they usually do,” GLVAR President Chris Bishop, of Coldwell Banker Premier Realty, said in a statement.

Sales totals “are fairly similar to this time last year and have begun to level off a bit,” he said, adding that the group attributes this, at least in part, to the low inventory.

Las Vegas home prices have been rising at one of the fastest rates nationally, and last year’s sales total in Southern Nevada was one of the highest on record, despite the plunging inventory.

Source from: https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/housing/median-las-vegas-home-prices-edge-up-to-280k/

On Monday, work begins on a project that will provide them with all of that while stretching the convention center’s footprint all the way to the Las Vegas Strip.

A groundbreaking event for the second phase of the convention center’s $1.4 billion expansion and renovation will be held on the site of the former Riviera resort, which will be transformed into 1.4 million square feet of new space for exhibitions and meetings. Gov. Brian Sandoval will be on hand for the event, along with several local leaders.

“I’m very excited with this expansion, because I know that it’s going to allow (Las Vegas) to be even more competitive than we are right now and it’s going to give us a facility that will be showcasing conventions on the Las Vegas Strip, as the first expansion building will be over there,” said Rossi Ralenkotter, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “This is our opportunity to brand us as what we are — the convention capital of North America — but also allow us to continue to position ourselves with our customers.”

The project has profound implications for the economy of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada, with projections calling for it to generate nearly 14,000 construction jobs and 7,800 full-time jobs upon completion. It is expected to draw an additional 600,000 visitors a year, drive $2.1 billion in economic activity during construction and have an annual incremental economic impact of $810 million when finished.

Phase Two of the project is projected to be completed in 2020. After that, workers will move on to renovating the existing 3.2 million-square-foot facility, an approach that allows the convention center not to displace any conventions due to construction. Phase One involved imploding the Riviera and preparing the site for expansion.

Funding for the project was approved by the Legislature in 2016 as part of a package that also included $750 million in taxpayer funds for construction of the Raiders stadium. The money is generated by a 0.5 increase in the Las Vegas hotel room tax.

The LVCVA markets the city’s convention center industry as a whole, not just the Las Vegas Convention Center, so standing in place meant falling behind. Competitors threatened to pick off conventions from the city — or, in some cases, actually did. Case in point: InterBike International Expo, the cycling industry’s largest show, which moved to Reno after pulling out of the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The expo draws about 25,000 people annually.

Ralenkotter said having more space at the Las Vegas Convention Center would allow the LVCVA to book more events simultaneously there and create new opportunities for shows held at more than one site.

Ralenkotter said the expansion project was vital in maintaining Las Vegas’ vitality in the competitive convention industry. Along with similar projects up and down the Strip — including major investments by MGM Resorts in convention center expansions at Aria ($150 million), Mandalay Bay ($70 million) and the MGM Grand ($130 million) — the upgrade is helping the city hold off such competitors as New York City ($1.5 billion expansion of the Javits Center) and San Francisco ($500 million upgrade of the Moscone Center).

“At the current time, we have over $25 billion of business that we need to protect with this expansion, and then we’ve identified some new shows that could come into the destination but that we currently can’t handle because of the fact that we already have conventions booked here or we need more space,” Ralenkotter said.

Meanwhile, major clients like the Consumer Technology Association, which puts on the annual CES convention, were requesting upgrades to facilities in Las Vegas. CES, the city’s largest convention, is expected to attract 175,000 attendees this year.

Chris Thompson, who markets the U.S. travel and convention industry globally as president and CEO of Brand USA, said the expansion would boost Las Vegas’ stature as an international destination for holding conventions and doing business.

“Most people would say, ‘Well, how tough is it to market Las Vegas?’ Well, the landscape changes, the opportunities change, the size of shows and what the organizers look for to support those shows and enhance the experiences of delegates changes,” he said. “So even though in most people’s eyes, Las Vegas probably has a plethora of attributes, even Las Vegas has to continue to rise to a high bar.”

The expansion comes amid some other positive developments along the north Strip, including an uptick in construction at the Genting Resorts World site, Steve Wynn’s purchase of the former New Frontier site and recent news that the owners of the Fountainebleau planned to forge ahead on plans to finish the 60-story resort.

“We’re seeing a lot of excitement,” Ralenkotter said. “A lot of people are looking to parlay what we will bring into the destination as far as new delegates to our town — trade show attendees and exhibitors and so forth — who experience us for the first time but at some other time will come back as a visitor.”

Ralenkotter said the expansion was part of Las Vegas’ ongoing reinvention from a tourism and gaming destination to a global leader in convention travel, a community with pro sports and a place to do business.

“There are going to be a lot of emotions (Monday),” he said. “When we throw that first piece of dirt — standing on the site of the old Riviera and looking at the Strip — we’ll be saying, ‘This is amazing.’ It’s going to be one of those ‘Wow!’ moments.”

Source: https://m.lasvegassun.com/news/2018/jan/07/a-wow-moment/?_ga=2.2567096.94828933.1521002300-389916747.1521002300

What U.S. city will boom in 2018? If you’re placing bets, you’d look for a place still suffering a hangover from the housing bust, with subdued economic activity and a lack of excess for a decade. You’d want to find an economy where demand is starting to exceed supply in a significant way, with price signals and economic activity responding. And with the U.S. economy as a whole starting to feel a bit frothy, you’d try to identify a place that benefits from American exuberance. In other words, you’d look for Las Vegas.

Perhaps no place in America was hit harder by the financial crisis than Las Vegas. Unemployment peaked in late 2010 at 14 percent. Home prices, as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, fell by an astonishing 62 percent from their 2006 peak. Single-family building permits fell by over 90 percent. Even today, home prices remain 30 percent below their peak, and single-family building permits are still barely half of what they were 20 years ago.

But after a decade of pain and recovery, no place is better poised to boom than Las Vegas in 2018. The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors announced that at the end of November, the number of unsold housing units for sale had fallen 30 percent over the past year, representing less than two months of supply. Prices have responded, with Las Vegas joining Seattle as the only two metros with home prices growing by double digits over the past year.

That Upward Tick

Year-over-year change in S&P/Case-Shiller Las Vegas Home Price Index
But perhaps most important, after years of declines in housing inventory and increases in prices with relatively little growth in construction, we’re starting to see construction respond as well. Single-family building permit activity is now at a 10-year high, with a significant increase over the past couple months. With inventory at record lows and good demographics, there’s no reason this shouldn’t continue in 2018.

Back to Building

New one-unit private housing units authorized by building permits in Las Vegas
In metros like Las Vegas that are so dependent on housing market activity, this is good news for job and wage growth as well. Like most places, Las Vegas is facing a shortage of construction workers. And here, we’re seeing wage growth respond. Average hourly earnings for Las Vegas construction workers are up by 8.2 percent over the past year. And the only way Las Vegas will be able to increase its construction activity in 2018 will be by keeping wage growth strong and finding more workers from somewhere, whether it’s training local workers or attracting construction workers from somewhere else.

Of course, housing isn’t the only cyclical industry that drives the Las Vegas economy: Tourism plays a big role as well. And as Calculated Risk notes, Las Vegas was on pace for record convention attendance in 2017, which should grow further in a strong 2018 economic environment. This might be why after a quiet decade, big casinos are starting to rumble and make land acquisitions for future development. Between 1996 and 2010, there were 12 new casinos built on the Las Vegas strip. Since then, there have been none. A return to even a modest casino development cycle would only add fuel to Las Vegas’s economic expansion.

Skeptics may worry that Las Vegas falling in love with housing and casinos again is a sign that we’re repeating our mistakes. But Las Vegas has always been, and perhaps always be, an economy that booms and busts. If home price and construction growth goes on for too many years, especially if it becomes backed by sketchy loans and too much leverage, then we’ll have reason for worry. But for now, with home prices and construction activity still well below peak levels, the Las Vegas economy may be every casino gambler’s dream — the prospect of riches without the immediate risk of being wiped out.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Source by: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-03/las-vegas-s-economy-is-on-the-brink-of-a-boom

The inventory of condominiums listed for sale in the Las Vegas area is the smallest it has been since 2004, said Chris Bishop, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

The association reported 634 condos and townhomes were listed without offers at the end of January, a 21.8 percent decline from the same time last year. The median prices also increased 32.1 percent from last year to $149,888.

Also, 3,718 single-family homes were listed without an offer, down 36.5 percent from last year, according to the association.

Transaction prices in January for existing single-family homes averaged $265,000, a decline of 1.1 percent from December but up 11.3 percent from January 2017.

“It’s normal to see home prices dip down a bit this time of year,” Bishop said in a statement. “January is traditionally one of the slowest months for home sales and for home prices. This month’s report reflects that.”

In 2017, home prices increased by 14 percent over the previous year.

That upward trend should continue in 2018, as demand exceeds a shrinking housing supply, according to the association.

“It’s possible we could even do better than last year in terms of appreciation,” Bishop said.

Most NFL teams who built a stadium in the past decade have opened a preview center for fans, similar to the one the Raiders opened this past week, but the silver and black are the only ones who added a public element.

“We felt that was important so that people in Las Vegas and those that don’t know that much about the Raiders, as well as all the Raiders fans who will fly in, get a chance to see some of the history, some of the memorabilia we have here and get excited for the stadium project,” Raiders President, Marc Badain said.

Marc Badain had a big say in the design and look of the Raiders preview center, but he said what’s been done there is only the start.

“At some point we’ll do a Raiders Hall of Fame,” Badain said. “I wouldn’t say this is a Hall of Fame, but this is a good test for what a Hall of Fame could look like and the type of information we could share and the type of environment we could create for Raiders fans around the world as they come to Las Vegas.”

One of the big features in the preview center is a live and interactive firsthand look at the soon-to-be Raiders stadium on Russell Road. Set to open in the summer of 2020, Badain said it is right on schedule.

“Steel is going in the ground around April, the progress has been absolutely astounding and it’s been exciting for everyone on staff and everyone with the organization,” Badain said.

Excitement has grown in Las Vegas not just for the Raiders, but for future Super Bowls. The NFL begin to finalize future host cities as soon as next month.

“2023 through 2025 Super Bowls, I’m hopeful we’ll get one of those three. I don’t know if we’ll be the first one or the third one, but we’ll put our best foot forward and hope we get at least one of them,” Badain said.

The Raiders Preview Center is open seven days a week, Monday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.