Source World Property Journal | By Michael Gerrity | February 7, 2018 

According to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, local home prices cooled off slightly in January 2018, but are still up more than 11 percent from one year ago.

GLVAR reported that the median price for existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada during January through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) dipped to $265,000. That's down 1.1 percent from December, but still up 11.3 percent from January of 2017.

Meanwhile, the median price of local condos and townhomes sold in January was $149,888, up 32.1 percent from the same time last year.

"It's normal to see home prices dip down a bit this time of year," said Chris Bishop, GLVAR's newly appointed president. "January is traditionally one of the slowest months for home sales and for home prices. This month's report reflects that."

Based on recent trends, Bishop expects 2018 to be another strong year for the local housing market with rising home prices - which increased by 14 percent from the beginning to the end of 2017.

"It's possible we could even do better than last year in terms of appreciation," he said.

One reason he expects prices to keep increasing is that demand for homes in Southern Nevada continues to exceed the shrinking local housing supply - which remains below two months when a six-month supply is considered a balanced market.

By the end of January, GLVAR reported 3,718 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's down 36.5 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 634 properties listed without offers in January represented a 21.8 percent drop from one year ago.

"That's the lowest our condo inventory has been since 2004," he added.

The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during January was 2,812. Compared to one year ago, January sales were up 5.5 percent for homes and up 3.8 percent for condos and townhomes.

According to GLVAR, the 46,598 existing local properties sold during 2017 made it the third best sales year on record and the best year for existing local home sales since 2011.

GLVAR reported that 29.2 percent of all local properties sold in January were purchased with cash, compared to 29.8 percent one year ago. That's less than half of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active, but have been playing a smaller role in the local housing market in recent years.

At the same time, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 4.3 percent of all existing local home sales in January, compared to 11 percent of all sales one year ago.

These GLVAR statistics include activity through the end of January 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 January was nearly $697 million for homes and more than $87 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales volumes in January were up 19.6 percent for homes and up 26.6 percent for condos and townhomes.

• Homes and condos continued to sell faster than last year at this time. In January, 76.8 percent of all existing local homes and 83.1 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That compares to one year ago, when 71.4 percent of all existing local homes and 78.6 percent of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.