Greater Las Vegas Residential Sales Down 20 Percent Annually in May

According to Las Vegas Realtors, fewer homes are changing hands as compared to the same time last year. LVR reported a total of 3,000 existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold in May 2023. Compared to May 2022, sales were down 20.3% for homes and down 19.6% for condos and townhomes.

Las Vegas Realtors also reported that local home prices increased from the previous month but are still well below their all-time peak set one year earlier.

LVR says the median price of existing single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada through its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) during May was $442,120. That's up 2.8% from $430,000 in April, but down 8.3% from the all-time record home price of $482,000 set in May of 2022.

The median price of local condos and townhomes sold in May was $275,000. That's up 1.9% from the previous month, but still down 3.5% from the all-time record condo and townhome price of $285,000 also set in May 2022.

LVR President Lee Barrett said these statistics suggest that the local housing market may be putting its most recent downturn in the rearview mirror.

"Prices have now increased for a couple of months in a row heading into what is usually our strongest selling season," Barrett said. "It seems safe to say that we're bouncing back from the bottom of this recent downturn."

By the end of May, LVR reported 3,645 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That's up 2.1% from the same time last year. Likewise, the 925 condos and townhomes listed without offers in May represent a 16.1% increase from one year earlier.

The sales pace in May equates to less than a two-month supply of properties available for sale. Last year at this time, Barrett said Southern Nevada was facing an even tighter inventory and had about a one-month supply.

Local home sales are on pace to be lower than they were in 2022, when LVR reported 35,584 total sales. That followed a record year for existing local home sales in 2021, when LVR reported 50,010 homes, condos, townhomes and other residential properties were sold. That was the first time LVR reported more than 50,000 local properties selling in a year. It topped the previous record set in 2011 by nearly 2,000 sales.

During May, LVR found that 21.9% of all local property sales were purchased with cash. That's down from 33.6% one year ago. It's also well below the May 2013 cash buyer peak of 59.5% set a decade ago, indicating that investors have been less active in the local housing market.

The number of so-called distressed sales remains near historically low levels. LVR reported that short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 1.2% of all existing local property sales in May. That compares to 0.6% one year ago, 0.7% two years ago, 1.5% three years ago, 2.0% four years ago and 2.6% of all sales five years ago.

These LVR statistics include activity through the end of May 2023. LVR distributes statistics each month based on data collected through its MLS, which does not account for all 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 May was more than $1.3 billion for homes and nearly $197 million for condos, high-rise condos and townhomes. Compared to one year ago, total sales values in May were down 22.2% for homes and down 24.1% for condos and townhomes.
• In May, 77.1% of all existing local homes and 79.1% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days. That's down from one year earlier, when 96.0% of all existing local homes and 97.9% of all existing local condos and townhomes sold within 60 days.