As of 4/6/2009 there are 3,519 single family (1,740 or 49% vacant); 575 condominiums (341 or 59% vacant) actively listed on the Multiple Listing Service (including those 205 that are under contract). Percentage of vacant units declined slightly in both product categories from the end of February and we interpret that as a positive sign. Those 4,094 housing units represents 11.4 months supply for all unit types based upon a 4-week moving average of closings; and slightly more than 10 ½  months supply of single family homes based on 330 closings over the last 4 weeks. There are a little over 12 months of condominium supply based upon current absorption.

 

Of the 3,519 single family listings: 769 (22%) are bank-owned and 1,194 (34%) are short sales. Of the bank-owned properties – 10% are under contract. Of the short sales 1.6% are under contract. Compared to the southern Nevada market these percentages are remarkably low (47% and 31% under contract, respectively). The low percentage under contract could be due to any number of factors: inferior location, uncertainty of purchasing a property without warranties or disclosures of any kind, banks unwillingness to negotiate or price the property, etc.

 

Bank owned properties account for 22% of all single family listings yet nearly 56% of all closings during March; short sale properties account for 34% of all listings and remained constant at 17% in March.  Hopefully, the percentage of REOs will level out as it puts tremendous downward pressure on pricing. Pricing does seem to have leveled out with the median staying at $200,000 for the last 3 months.

 

Our median sales price is figured strictly on what closes escrow in any given month and can reflect a bias in the sales data. The S&P Case-Shiller median price methodology is considered the best to reflect a more accurate picture of which direction prices are heading as it uses a ‘paired sales’ methodology of accounting for price changes month-to-month.

 

There were 353March MLS single family detached closings – up 23.4% from February and up nearly 50% from March 2008.

This huge percentage in year-over-year sales just highlights how dismal 2008 was for the resale market in general.

 

Average sales price 2008:                                                       Median sales price:

January $328,286                                                                    $285,000

June      $330,738        + .7% change                                    $262,500         - 7.9% change

July       $293,702       - 11.2%                                                $251,000         - 4.4% change

August $298,795       + 1.7%                                                 $250,000         - 0.4% change

September $304,769    + 2.0%                                                $239,750         - 4.1% change

October $268,950       -11.7%                                                 $230,000         - 4.1% change

November $271,311   + 0.9% (-17.4% YTD)             $220,500         - 4.1% change (-22.6% year to date)

December $254,040 -6.4% ( -22.6% YTD)                           $218,900         -0.74% change (-23.2% year to date)

January 2009  $243,165                                                        $200,000         -8.6% change (-29.8% YoY)

February $235,857                                                                 $200,800         +4.0% change (-30.5% YoY)

March  $231,038                                                                    $200,000         -0.4% change (-26.7% YoY)

 

 

 

Average size & Price per square foot:                         Median size & Price per square foot:

January 2,019 sq. ft. -- $180.62/s.f.                                                    1,746 sq. ft.     $170.23/s.f.

June      2,046 sq. ft. -- $155.75/s.f.                                                   1,822 sq. ft.     $148.04/s.f.

July      1,945   sq. ft. -- $150.59/s.f.                                                   1,775 sq. ft.     $144.82/s.f.

August 2,003 sq. ft. -- $147.00/s.f.                                                   1,788 sq. ft.     $142.50/s.f.

September 2,038 sq. ft. -- $145.13/s.f.                                               1,814 sq. ft.     $136.85/s.f.

October 1,942 sq. ft. -- $136.82/s.f.                                                   1,801 sq. ft      $131.43/s.f.

November 2,005 sq. ft. -- $130.60/s.f                                                 1,786 sq. ft.     $123.61/s.f.; -27.4% change

December 1,985 sq. ft. -- $125.92/s.f.                                                1,832 sq. ft.   $121.43/s.f.; -28.7% YTD

January 2009 2,055 sq. ft. -- $115.74                                               1,854 sq. ft. $112.59

February 1,974 sq. ft. -- $116.02/s.f.                                                  1,788 sq. ft. $111.38/s.f. (-75.7% YoY change)

March    2,013 sq. ft. -- $111.89/s.f.                                                  1,862 sq. ft. $105.85/s.f. (-29.9% YoY change)

 

Nominal prices have leveled off for now but oddly the price per square foot declined nearly 5% from February and just under 30% year over year. Seasonal factors affect this market quite a bit and some of the fluctuations could be due to seasonal variations; plus the percentage of houses selling for $100 per square foot or less jumped 7 percent in March from February.

 

Also, the majority of foreclosures is occurring in multi-story homes that already have a lower price per square foot (value ratio) than single story homes that typically represent the first choice in the market. This will continue to affect value ratios if the number of bank owned transactions increases.

 

 

Since the percentage of bank owned properties entering the market has acceleraed we decided to compare bank owned transactions to ‘arms length’ transactions as opposed to comparing properties by the number of stories as we have done in the past. The median price per square foot for REOs was $95.66 per square foot in March versus $108.61 for short sales and $128.72 for all others that closed in March.

 

Since we included the short sale transactions with the REOs in this month’s analysis our chart (if your report includes one) reflects a price per square foot of $99.01 for REO/ShortSale properties.

 

 

 

Average Sales Price of $231,038 and an average of $103.22 per square foot while the median sales price was $183,500 and a median value ratio of $99.01. Sales prices ranged from $36,750 to $1,100,000 with sizes ranging from 484 square feet to 6,100 square feet.

 

Of the 260 transactions for the month 197 were bank owned, 60 were short sale transactions and 3 fell into the Court Approval category.

 

For the 93 non-REO/Short Sale transactions the Average Sales Price was $290,819 and an average of $136.13 per square foot while the median sales price was $245,000 and a median value ratio of $129.21. Prices ranged from $96,030 to $1,595,000 with sizes ranging from 953 square feet to 5,190 square feet.

 

Days On Market: Days on the MLS were 106 and 107 for REO and non-REO transactions respectively – nearly identical; while the average DOM was slightly higher for the non-REO transactions at 141 days versus 128 days for the REO properties. Just for comparison the median DOM for the southern Nevada market is currently 49 days for REO and 54 for non-REO transactions that close.

 

Lot size preference: The median lot size for single story closings in March continued to remain constant at 0.20 acre for non-REO and 0.17 acre for REO homes.

 

A complete set of graphs and tables follow.

 

Frank Nason, President

702-597-2855 Office or Toll-free 866-597-2855

5520 South Fort Apache Road, Las Vegas, Nevada 89148