Foreclosure house listings in Las Vegas have been cut by short sales in December last year, based on home sales data from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
In December, almost 70 percent of all real estate listings in metro Las Vegas were short sales, the type of sales that require bank approval.
With the sharp rise in short sales, the percentage of foreclosure sales decreased from around 67 percent in January last year to 60 percent in December.
According to the realtors, they sold a total of 3,472 single-family houses, marking an almost 37 percent jump from sales in December 2008. Total sales for all kinds of homes also increased for the entire year, with sales of single-family houses, townhomes and condos rising to 46,879 units in 2009, a significant increase from 28,618 units in 2008.
The sales level was a record, as the figure was next only to the Southern Nevada sales figure in 2004, when nearly 72,000 houses were sold. The total worth of single-family houses sold in December rose to almost $559 million.
A total of 776 condos and townhomes were sold in December, a jump of almost 71 percent from December last year. The median sales price dropped by more than 28 percent to $65,300.
The median sales price for all kinds of homes in December was $136,000, a decrease of more than 22 percent from December last year. The housing inventory also declined, falling by 11 percent to less than 20,000 units.
Rick Shelton, head of the realtor association, said he is hoping that 2010 will be a lot different from 2009, with foreclosure house listings declining and the housing market recovering.
Brokerage owner Mark Stark said that his company sold around 9,000 units in 2009, a sharp increase from the 6,000 units sold in 2008. He said that the federal tax credit for first time house buyers was a big hit, driving the sale of homes priced below $100,000. He added that most of the units sold in 2009 were in the low-cost subsector of the market.
Home prices for Stark’s sales also dropped, with the average sales price falling from $440,000 18 months ago to $165,000 in the latter part of 2009. He said that home prices will continue to fall over the next few years.
In contrast to other forecasts, Stark predicted that foreclosure house listings will not rise sharply because short sales will increase dramatically.
Related Posts:
- Foreclosure List Prices in Santa Cruz, California Still Down
- REO Property Listings Affect Chicago Home and Condo Prices
- People Who Purchase Single Family Homes Favored Short Sales in 2011
- Sales from Fort Myers Foreclosure Listings Grew
- San Antonio Foreclosure Listings Pull Down Median Home Price
Comments on this entry are closed.