After a brief break, Las Vegas home prices headed up again..

 After a flat start to the year, Las Vegas home prices are on the rise again.
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The median sales price of previously owned single-family homes in Southern Nevada last month was $190,000, up 2.7 percent from January and 26.7 percent from a year ago, says a new report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

January’s median, $185,000, was the same as December’s.

After plunging during the recession, Las Vegas housing prices are rising at one of the fastest rates nationally, spurred in large part by investor demand for cheap rental homes.

There have been a few signs that the market is tapering off, though.

Last year, used-home prices dipped 1 percent in September as compared to August — the first time in almost two years that local prices fell month to month — and then slipped another 1 percent in November from October.

Trends are positive’ as Las Vegas economy seen continuing to recover

The comeback continues.

Las Vegas made solid progress in its economic recovery in the third quarter, according to the Brookings Mountain West Mountain Monitor, a report that tracks the economies of 10 cities in the Intermountain West.

“The ongoing work of climbing out of a lot of wreckage continues, but across the board, there’s better and better information. The trends are positive,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director with Brookings and one of the report’s authors.

Local home prices and job growth showed the best gains.

You already know the housing story: Similar to other reports, the Brookings study showed that home prices rose 22.6 percent year over year in the third quarter. That was No. 1 in the region, with Phoenix coming in second, at 18.1 percent, and it handily beat out the national average of 1.6 percent.

That kind of jump is especially important in Las Vegas, where real estate has historically played a big role in driving the economy, Muro said. What’s more, housing has a multiplier effect in a multitude of industries, from furniture sales to contracting. As it recovers, it helps growth in general.

“Heavy involvement in real estate is sort of the original sin of this crash, and the region, with its historical orientation toward real estate development, was greatly exposed,” Muro said. “Now, there’s some normalization of the real estate market, and that’s a broad background benefit for the overall economy.”

Nowhere is that broader benefit apparent more than it is in the jobs market. Unemployment in Las Vegas fell 0.6 percent from the second to third quarter, twice the rate of the next-closest drop of 0.3 percent in Albuquerque, N.M., and three times the national drop of 0.2 percent. Job growth jumped 0.8 percent from the second to the third quarter, on top of a 0.5 percent gain from the first to the second quarter. Job growth in the third quarter was fourth best in the region. Nationally, employment grew 0.3 percent in the third quarter.

What’s more important than actual numbers, though, is the source of the expansion. Yes, gaming and hospitality were still key, but Muro noted new, “modest” job-growth contributions from some of the seven target industries the Nevada Governor’s
Office of Economic Development is looking to lure. In particular, the medical industry and the information-technology business systems sectors are playing a role.

“We’re seeing contributions now from a more diverse set of industries, so I think that is extremely good news,” Muro said.

None of that is to say Las Vegas doesn’t still face big challenges.

Fresh uncertainty about the direction of the world’s economy in developing nations such as China could place a “drag” on tourism, Muro said.

Also, some of the city’s stubbornly high unemployment may be coming from permanent, structural changes in the economy. The city will probably never see a housing-construction boom like the one it experienced from 2004 to 2006, and hotel-casinos have learned to operate permanently with fewer staffers per room.

“The damage that occurred, the hole the region found itself in and the disruption of households and lives remains profound,” Muro said. “Las   Vegas is making its way through a vastly different environment now. There’s such uncertainty about where unemployment will go. Whether a good portion of it is structural is an extremely sobering question.”

Las Vegas housing ends 2013 the way it started — big annual price gains

The local housing market ended 2013 the way it began — with big annual gains in prices.

Still, there’s fresh evidence that prices are stabilizing, and Realtors said they expect slower, steadier gains in 2014.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that single-family resale homes cost a median of $185,000 in December, up 24.2 percent from $149,000 in December 2012. The median among existing condos and townhomes was $96,000, up 26.3 percent from $76,000 a year earlier.

“Local homeowners should be happy with the strong appreciation we’ve seen over the past two years,” said Heidi Kasama, the association’s new president. “We haven’t seen increases like this since the middle part of the last decade. Like most housing experts, I expect to see more stable home prices in 2014.”

That’s because increases have moderated in recent months.

The median single-family home price has hovered between $180,000 and $185,000 since July.

December’s median was up just 1.1 percent from $183,000 in November. Compare that to monthly gains of as much as 6 percent in early 2013.

Prices bottomed out at $118,000 in January 2012, after peaking at $315,000 in June 2006.

December’s numbers also closed out what Kasama called a year of transition from a market dominated by distressed sales to one heavy on traditional closings.

Short sales, when a lender agrees to sell a home for less than what the borrower owes, made up 20.7 percent of the market in December, down from 45.8 percent a year earlier. Bank-owned sales were 8.5 percent of the market, down from 9.5 percent.

Of the 40,242 existing homes association members sold last year, 62 percent were traditional sales, nearly double the 37 percent of 2012’s 44,902 sales.

Available single-family listings surged year over year, to 6,587 units. That was up 78.6 percent year over year.

The market had 1,664 available condos and townhomes, a 33 percent gain compared with December 2012.

Even though listings spiked, the market had just 2.8 months of available inventory at December’s sales rate. That’s less than half of the six-month supply of a normal market.

Home prices rise again in August; Las Vegas leads nation..

WASHINGTON — U.S. home prices rose in August from a year earlier at the fastest pace since February 2006, according to new data from a home price index.

But the price gains slowed in many cities from July, a sign that the spike in prices over the past year may have peaked.

Prices in Las Vegas rose 29.2 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in the nation. But they are still 47 percent lower than they were before the housing market collapsed.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index rose 12.8 percent over the 12 months ending in August. That’s up from 12.4 percent in July from a year earlier. All 20 cities showed year-over-year gains.

However, a measure of month-over-month prices for the 20 cities rose just 1.3 percent in August. That’s’ down from a 1.8 percent month-over-month gain in July. And 16 of the 20 cities reported more modest price increases in August than in July.

Greater demand and a tighter supply of homes for sale have helped drive prices higher over the past year. But over the summer, mortgage rates jumped from their record lows. And weaker job growth is also discouraging potential home buyers.

Prices in Denver and Dallas hit record levels in August. None of the other cities have returned to where they were before the real estate collapse. Average home prices are only back to mid-2004 levels and 22 percent below their April 2006 peak.

And many of the cities are seeing their gains slow.

Prices in San Francisco increased 0.9 percent in August, down from a 2.2 percent monthly increase in July.

Despite rising for 26 straight months, prices in Detroit are still lower than they were in January 2000.

Ellen Haberle, an economist with the national real estate brokerage Redfin, said that prices have been driven higher by a limited supply of houses on the market. She expects home sales to fall in September and October partly because the federal government shutdown likely scared off potential home buyers.

Contingent Macro Advisors economists Maninder Sibia and Steven Wood said housing inventory was only 83 percent of normal levels. They expect the supply to increase as rising prices encourage home owners to put their houses on the market.

The Case-Shiller 20-city index covers roughly half of U.S. homes. It measures prices compared with those in January 2000 and creates a three-month moving average. The August figures are the latest available. They are not adjusted for seasonal variations so monthly gains reflect more buying activity over the summer.

Are you paying Mortgage Insurance on your Home loan?

1) Lose the Mortgage Insurance: Real estate prices are going up and home values are rising with them. If you are paying mortgage insurance, and you have  accumulated 20% or more equity in your home then it may be a good time to reevaluate whether you even need it mortgage insurance.

2) Move to a lower term:  If you can qualify for a lower term mortgage and are financially capable, then you should do it! Moving down to a 15 or 20 year term can save you thousands in interests costs and payments, allowing you to pay off your mortgage even faster.

3) Drop the fixed loan: In result of rising real estate prices and increased equity, you may want to sell your current home in order to purchase a larger one. If you are not planning on living in your present home for as long as you originally planned, switching to an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) could be the best move for you. According to a Freddy Mac mortgage survey, there are 5 year ARM at a little over 3 percent which could help you save on interest and mortgage payments.

4) It’s all about the cash: Who doesn’t like some extra cash? Whether it’s a vacation, college tuition, a new car or for the Holidays that are approaching everyone could use some help. If you  have enough equity in your home (in most cases 30% or more) them you can refinance and get some money back in your pockets.

5) There are better rates out there: Don’t overpay for your home when you could be getting a better rate. Even if you can’t receive a lower rate in the past, there are still many opportunities out there that could significantly lower your mortgage. Whether it’s more equity in your home or just a higher credit score,  talk to your lender for a chance to start saving today!

Good luck and Happy Holidays that are Approaching.

Homeowners hope to cash in big on hot housing market, but buyers aren’t biting on overpriced homes.

Las Vegas homeowners are getting greedy.

With real estate prices soaring, many local residents are hoping to cash in and sell their homes for big dollars, in many cases more than they are worth.

Homeowners should dial down their excitement, though.

Buyers increasingly are ignoring overpriced listings while homeowners who figured they’d sell to investors or others willing to pay anything are discovering that nobody’s biting.

“They’re getting ahead of themselves,” Prudential Americana Group broker Jack Woodcock said.

Last month, the valley had 6,330 single-family homes for sale without any offers on them. That’s up 13 percent from August and 61 percent from a year ago, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. The number of listings without offers has climbed every month since April, when there were 3,161 such houses on the market.

That doesn’t mean houses aren’t selling.

“Everything that’s priced right is selling; that’s the trick,” said Dave Tina, co-owner of Urban Nest Realty and GLVAR president.

Wall Street investors had been buying cheap homes in bulk to turn into rentals but now are paring down on local purchases because of the rising prices they helped create.

Earlier this year, listings often received a dozen or more bids, many submitted sight unseen by investors. That frenzy has all but stopped, real estate agents say. Listings now get only a few offers, making it tougher for homeowners to find someone who’s willing to pay top dollar for a house.

Meanwhile, the improved construction market remains muted compared with Las Vegas’ boom years. If developers were building more subdivisions and injecting more competition into the market, local residents might not feel so emboldened to seek high prices for their homes.

“I find myself debating with clients right now over numbers,” Hudson Real Estate broker Krystal Sherry said.

The median price of previously owned single-family homes sold last month was $180,000, down 1 percent from August but up 29 percent from September 2012, according to the GLVAR. Last month was the first in almost two years in which prices fell, and September was the first month since February that the year-to-year price increase dipped below 30 percent.

Prices in the valley have been climbing at some of the fastest rates nationally. Despite the upswing, real estate here remains underpriced and ripe for bargains, industry experts say.

Sellers who are fixated on the hot streak, however, think they can get a lot more than what the market will bear, said broker Cokie Booth, owner of BC Real Estate.

Real estate agents often go along. If a client wants to list a house for $275,000 when Booth thinks it is worth only $250,000, for example, Booth will list it at the higher price. She can always lower it if no one shows interest.

“It’s real rare when it’s the other way around,” Booth said.

Analysts said the region’s soaring prices were bound to taper off. No city can sustain a skyrocketing market forever, especially Las Vegas, which still has a sluggish economy and, as of July, a 9.7 percent unemployment rate.

Report says housing bust has silver lining: affordability

A new report points to a silver lining in Southern Nevada’s housing bust.

The study, released on Thursday from real estate website Trulia, shows the vast majority of local homes for sale in Las Vegas are affordable to the typical household, thanks to the city’s recession-era price crash. And that housing accessibility could prove important to the city’s economic future.

“Housing affordability affects economic competitiveness. Housing costs are an important part of doing business,” said Jed Kolko, Trulia’s chief economist. “Taxes get a lot of attention, but often, the difference in housing costs matters a lot more to whether businesses and people move, and to where.”

Las Vegas has a pretty big pricing difference to exploit these days. Based on a median local income of $49,546, 72 percent of local homes listed for sale are within reach of the typical household. A family earning the median could afford as much as $241,000 worth of house and still keep its payment below 31 percent of income, Trulia’s report said.

These days, $241,000 goes fairly far here. At that price on Thursday, the Multiple Listing Service showed a 2,437-square-foot, three-bedroom home on nearly a quarter of an acre in Summerlin, near Sun City and Lake Mead boulevards. There was also a 3,075-square-foot, four-bedroom home on half an acre in the southwest, near Robindale Road and Decatur Boulevard.

The report found that Las Vegas housing is more accessible than housing in other regional markets. In Salt Lake City, 65 percent of homes for sale were within reach. In Phoenix, 68 percent of listings were affordable. And just 49 percent of homes were available to the typical household in Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.

“Las Vegas is much more affordable than other cities in the West, and that means we become an attractive destination for people who are retiring,” said Steve Brown, director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research. “We also provide affordable housing for people who are working.”

Local homes are also far more affordable than they were at their 2006 pricing peak, when $200,000 might have netted a two-bedroom condominium with no garage in an average neighborhood, said Tanya Murray, a Realtor with Realty Executives of Nevada.

“Our affordability level had really gotten off track at that point,” Murray said.

Trulia doesn’t have numbers on affordability in the bubble. But the median home value maxed out at $315,000 in 2006, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. The median household income was higher, too, at $54,334. And interest rates were costlier, at about 6 percent, compared with 4.5 percent today, Kolko added.

Any improvement in affordability is important, though, particularly for quality of life. In pricey markets, people have to double up on housing with family or roommates. They also settle for less space, or a longer commute from a suburban area with affordable housing, Kolko said.

High housing prices can also curb economic growth: Where homes cost a lot, commercial real estate tends to be pricey, too, and that can curb business expansion, Kolko said.

The latest stats do wave a few yellow flags for Las Vegas, though.

First, the share of local homes available to the median earner was down from 82 percent in 2012. Kolko called it a significant decline, due partly to higher interest rates, which were at 3.5 percent a year ago, and to higher prices. The median local home price hit a low of $118,000 in January 2012, but reached $180,000 in September, according to the Realtors association.

What’s more, beyond income you’ll find accessibility hurdles that other markets may not have, experts said. Include discouraged and underemployed workers, and Nevada’s jobless rate is still 19 percent. That’s a large core of locals who couldn’t buy even if they wanted to. The state also has above-average numbers of consumers with credit blemishes including foreclosures, short sales and bankruptcies.

So don’t expect the city’s overall affordability to translate into a buying surge, Brown said.

There’s even mixed news from Southern Nevada’s most important feeder market for new residents and tourists. Affordability plunged in California in the last year, with available listings falling 15 percentage points or more in Los Angeles, San Diego and Orange and Ventura counties. That could force more households out of California. Some of them may come to Nevada, Kolko said, but others may move even farther away, which could hurt weekend visitation. Plus, where home prices spike, people have less discretionary income for travel.

Murray said she expects affordability levels to stabilize as local price gains slow in coming months. Some sellers are reducing prices, and buyers are “pulling back a bit” rather than panicking over buying now.

“We’re moving into a stabilization pattern right now, most definitely,”

Housing default activity shifts into high gear in Clark County and Nevada..

Leave it to Nevada to buck the trend.

Even as U.S. foreclosure starts fell to a seven-year low in the third quarter, default activity kicked into high gear in Clark County and across the Silver State, according to a report Wednesday from California research firm RealtyTrac.

First-time foreclosure filings plunged 39 percent nationwide year over year in the three months that ended Sept. 30. The opposite happened in Nevada, where initial filings spiked 36 percent in the same period, RealtyTrac reported.

September brought especially dramatic foreclosure gains in Nevada. Starts, or notices of default, nearly doubled year over year in the month, to 2,763 filings. Notices more than doubled in Las Vegas, jumping 109.3 percent, to 2,470 filings.

RealtyTrac’s analysis backs up recent findings from local real estate and mortgage experts, who reported Friday that local banks and title companies submitted nearly 1,000 notices of default on Sept. 30. That was a single-day record for foreclosure starts in Clark County.

Industry observers trace the September surge in initial filings to the state’s new Homeowners Bill of Rights law, which imposes new mandates on banks looking to foreclose. The law took effect Oct. 1, and first-time notices of default swelled as banks tried to beat the deadline.

Look for that trend to reverse: Filings fell precipitously the first two days in October, thanks in part to those new requirements. Banks now have to give homeowners 30 days’ notice before starting foreclosure, and they have to tell owners about alternatives to default.

The law also requires banks to assign a single contact person to a homeowner in foreclosure. Nor can banks try to foreclose while working out a short sale. And they must meet timelines for requesting additional paperwork and answering modification requests.

“Lenders are changing forms and paperwork to correspond to new laws, and they believe the foreclosure process will be dramatically slowed for the next several months,” said Craig King, chief operating officer of Reno brokerage Chase International.

Bank repossessions, or foreclosure completions, also gained in Nevada, jumping 29 percent from the second to the third quarter. Nationally, the rate ticked up 7 percent in the same period.

For all foreclosure activity, from first-time filings to bank repossessions, Nevada ranked No. 2 in the nation in the third quarter, behind Florida. In all, 9,033 properties in Nevada were in some stage of foreclosure in the quarter, RealtyTrac reported. That was up 10 percent from the second quarter and 21 percent from a year earlier. One in every 128 homes in Nevada was involved in foreclosure in the third quarter.

Las Vegas ranked No. 5 among metro areas, with one in every 109 homes in some phase of foreclosure.

For September alone, Nevada ranked No. 1 for foreclosure activity.

Daren Blomquist, vice president of Realty Trac, said some states could continue to struggle with above-average foreclosure rates in coming quarters.

“These spikes in activity demonstrate that while millions of distressed homeowners have been pulled back from the precipice by foreclosure prevention programs over the past several years, once those programs expire or are exhausted, a percentage of those troubled homeowners are still susceptible to falling into foreclosure,” Blomquist said. “In addition, even slight economic downturns at the local or regional level can push these homeowners hanging on by a thread over the edge.”

Las Vegas housing recovery stalls after 19 months…

After 19 months of steady increases, the value of single-family homes in Southern Nevada took a tumble in September. The median value for the region fell to $180,000, down 1.1 percent from $182,000 in August, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. It’s the first month-to-month decrease since January 2012, when median value bottomed out at $118,000, but the latest figure is still 29 percent higher than the September 2012 value of $140,000. The slowdown comes as no surprise to those on the front lines of local real estate. They’ve seen properties linger longer on the market and buyers becoming more demanding when it comes to deals. Steve Franklin, an agent with Realty Executives of Nevada, said the downtown area where he specializes has cooled in recent months, even in areas close to rapidly redeveloping downtown Las Vegas. He described one listing, at 1240 Seventh St., that has been on the market since June and hasn’t yet sold despite a price decrease from $125,000 to $123,000. “Things have shifted a little bit here in the last couple months,” Franklin said. “For sellers, they are going to have to be a little more negotiable on their price.” Franklin said from April to July homes in one swath of downtown spent an average of 64 days on the market. In that same area the average current listing is now 67 days old, meaning that if they were placed under 30-day contract immediately, the time on market would be nearly 100 days. “I think that is some pretty solid evidence things definitely cooled off,” he said. The decline in values in September was accompanied by an increase in inventory, according to figures from the Realtors association. “I would say a lot of the cash investors are running out of cash to invest,” said Gregory Smith, a Realtor in North Las Vegas. “And it is still really difficult to get a loan even if you are qualified.” There were 14,659 single-family homes listed at the end of September, up 3.7 percent from 14,472 at the end of August. There was an even more dramatic increase in the number of houses for sale with no pending or contingent offer, according to the Realtors. At the end of September there were 6,330 homes listed without an offer, up 12.8 percent from the previous month and up 60 percent from the end of September 2012. The number of homes purchased with cash fell to 47.2 percent, down from a peak of 59.5 percent in February. “We knew these rising home prices had to slow down sometime,” said Dave Tina, president of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. “Home prices and sales usually slow down heading into the holidays and in the winter, so this may be the beginning of more stable prices for the coming months.” While single-family home sales were off in the month, condominium and town homes increased 3.8 percent from August to a median sale price of $95,000. That is up 35.2 percent from one year ago. The overall value of local sales tracked through the Multiple Listing Service in September was down 8 percent, to $598 million, according to the Realtors. Total value of condos and town homes sold was $92 million, up 44.6 percent from August. Tina said a reduction in hedge fund buyers is a good sign for the real estate market because it will result in more availability for owner-occupiers to afford a home. “It can’t go on forever, or we would have that bubble all the naysayers want to say we have,” Tina said of the 19-month run-up. “We had that great growth now we are sitting good on a nice, normal, healthy median price.”     

Notices of default spiked in days before Homeowners Bill of Rights kicked in

Talk about deadline pressure.

Banks, title companies and processors used September’s waning days to mount a record-setting foreclosure push before a Homeowners Bill of Rights took effect Tuesday.

Companies submitted more than 440 local notices of default on Friday alone — four times the number they filed in all of June and nearly the number they filed in July, according to both data-crunching website LVDEFAULT.com and analysis firm Home Builders Research.

They set a one-day high on Monday for Clark County filings, at 934 notices, said Tony Martin, director of LVDEFAULT.com. In the last two days of September, filings roughly equaled notices from June, July and August combined.

Official figures won’t be in until mid-October, but early stats show roughly 3,700 notices of default, which start the foreclosure process, in September. That is the highest number since September 2011, the month before a state law imposed new legal liabilities on banks that foreclosed.

September’s filings were quite a jolt to a system that was running just 50 notices a day earlier this year, Martin said.

But it wasn’t an unexpected jolt. Analysts, including Dennis Smith of Home Builders Research, predicted a spike in filings as the Homeowner’s Bill of Rights prepared to take effect Tuesday.

The law puts new limits on banks, including mandates to give homeowners 30 days’ notice before starting foreclosure and to tell owners about alternatives to default. The law also requires banks to assign a single contact person to a homeowner in default. Nor can banks dual-track, or try to foreclose while working out a short sale. And they have to meet timelines for requesting additional paperwork and answering modification requests.

So it’s no surprise notices of default soared just before Tuesday, said Bill Uffelman, president and CEO of the Nevada Bankers Association. He called the numbers “right in the neighborhood” of what he expected, as banks tried to get in under the wire with as many notices as they could muster.

It’s not the first — or even the second — time foreclosure filings changed as new laws kicked in.

Banks filed 3,685 notices of default in September 2011. Notices plunged to 52 the next month, when new legislation required the person signing default papers to have personal knowledge of who owns the promissory note, a tough task when many mortgages were bundled and sold as financial derivatives multiple times. Notices of default bounced back to 1,486 by May, but in June, a law that loosened the personal-knowledge requirement took effect, and notices crashed again, to 116. They crept up to 1,149 in August before rocketing to roughly 3,700 in September.

The latest numbers beg the question, though: If banks could file nearly 1,500 notices in the last two days of September, why couldn’t they hit that stride in June, when those legal requirements relaxed?

Some of it had to do with “spoon-feeding” foreclosures onto the market to prop up prices, Martin said.

Agreed Smith: “Obviously, they were dragging (defaults) out. The longer they drag them out, the higher the price they can get when they sell them. They also don’t have to report the loss until they sell the house. September’s numbers do show lenders can process more (notices of default) than they have been.”

Uffelman responded that it’s impossible to go full-force on foreclosures when the law keeps tweaking the rules of the game, even if those new rules are supposed to help banks.

“Every time the law changes, the legal department has to sign off on it, the compliance department has to sign off on it, the training department has to sign off on it,” he said. “Suddenly, you’ve consumed five work weeks just getting ready to do something. Someone has to go through files and make sure they’re in compliance with the rules.”

Martin and Smith agreed that regardless of pricing or market concerns, it has been difficult for banks to navigate ever-changing laws. New regulations haven’t helped Southern Nevada deal with its shadow inventory — the tens of thousands of homes languishing in vacancy or foreclosure, waiting to hit the market. And the longer it takes to chew through that supply, the more dragged-out the local housing market’s recovery will be, Smith said.

The first two days of October already show another nosedive for notices of default.

Martin tracked 25 filings on Tuesday, and seven on Wednesday. He said he doesn’t expect filings to go above 150 in the month.

Without legislative intervention, banks probably would have been filing at least 1,500 notices a month, Martin said. Smith took it a step further, saying filings would have continued at 3,500 or so a month if that 2011 law had never taken effect.

That would have put the market considerably ahead of where it is today in working down its shadow inventory.

And now?

“It’s still going to be many, many years before the system is flushed,” Smith said.

Notices of default, which start the foreclosure process, have gone up and down as state foreclosure laws have changed:

Month / Filings

September: 3,761

August: 1,149

July: 521

June: 116

May: 1,486

April: 1,714

March: 1,603

February: 1,507

January: 1,494