Las Vegas January Home Sales Highest Since 2007

From DQ News, some interesting facts about January homes sales in Las Vegas:

1. A total of 3,669 new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area last month – the highest for the month of January since 2007, and almost 10% above January last year.

2. The median price paid last month for resale single-family detached houses – the region’s largest home-type category – was $125,000, down 3.8% from December and down 7.4% from $135,000 a year earlier. Last month’s resale house median stood 60% below its peak of $312,250 in June 2006.

3.  Sales of homes priced below $100,000 rose to 38.6 percent of all transactions last month, up from 36.6 percent in December and 35.1 percent a year ago. Last month’s figure was the highest for sub-$100,000 sales since the housing downturn began.

4. Absentee buyers (mainly investors) purchased 49.2 percent of all Las Vegas–area homes sold in January – the highest level since at least 2000. Last month’s figure was up from 45.9 percent in December and 43.0 percent a year ago. Absentee buyers paid a median $100,000 last month, down from $102,819 in December and $101,000 a year earlier. 

5. Those who used cash to purchase their homes accounted for 54.5 percent of total January sales since at least 1994. Last month’s level of all-cash purchases was up from 50.6 percent in December and 50.4 percent a year ago. The median price paid in these cash deals was $92,250 last month, up a bit from $89,250 in December but down from $96,000 a year earlier.

6. Foreclosure resales – homes that had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months – dipped slightly to 54.7 percent of the Las Vegas resale market last month. That was down from 56.3 percent in December and down from 62.0 percent a year earlier. Foreclosure resales peaked at 73.7 percent of the resale market in April 2009. 

MP: The market appears to be working: falling home prices eventually start to stimulate sales, by attracting the all-cash bargain hunters who take advantage of "Everyday Low Discount Prices" for homes in Las Vegas, currently available at a 60% discount from the peak prices in 2006.