Las Vegas Home Sales: 95% of Sales Are to: a) Cash Buyers or b) First-time Buyers with FHA Financing
From the DQNews report on July home sales in Las Vegas:
1. In July, 4,535 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County), down 13.8% from June but up 5.2% from July 2010.
2. Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) represented 70.6% of July transactions, and foreclosure resales alone accounted for 59.5% of July sales.
3. Last month, 53% of Las Vegas home sales were sold to cash buyers, and 42.1% to homebuyers using low down payment government-insured FHA loans. Those sales represent more than 95% of July real estate transactions, meaning that less than 5% of Las Vegas homes were purchased with conventional financing (10-20% down payments, etc.). In other words, it's like there are two real estate markets in Las Vegas, each with about half the market: a) cash sales to investors, and b) first-time homebuyers using FHA financing with low 3% down payments.
7 Comments:
Like Elvis Presley said, "Viva Las Vegas, baby!"
BTWQ, Morgan says Elvis is really still alive, flying UFOs around Area 51, and gyrating endlessly...
bunny-
are you off your meds?
you seem less sensible than usual, and that's really saying something.
Are you denying that Elvis Presley is your co-pilot on the new dilithium-crystal powered spacecraft you just bought?
FHA loans are common these days, nationwide. Are they 'better', in any way, than the 'evil' subprime loans that many blamed for the housing market collapse? Why do we collectively subsidize this??
I should clarify...FHA loans are 'better' than many subprime loans of days gone by. They are not neg-am. They have reasonably low rates. But they also have reasonably high closing fees, and very little 'skin in the game' required for borrowers. I realize they may be helping hold up the housing market, but with so little risk what's going to keep borrowers from bailing at the first sign of trouble? I am a realtor and believe housing is not a right, it's a privilege. If a private bank or investor wants to lend to someone with low money down, go for it. But I don't understand why collectively (the govt) needs to be involved to such a large degree.
Bee,
I believe the government involvement is for a few reasons, but the one I keep coming back to is that they are "buying" taxpayers. If you are in an income bracket that pays little or no federal tax, have kid and other deductions and live in an apartment, you pay (next to) nothing.
You get the family into a home at the same monthly expense, they're happy and the federal transfer to the state is less due to your property taxes. That's why the states with the most foreclosures are in such trouble...the banks defer taxes to the next owner. If they wanted to move some of these long-abandoned home, they should waive the past tax to make the home price cheaper and get some more people back on the rolls.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.
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