Understanding Vegas Property Trends from December 2024 to January 2025

Could the shifting tides of the Las Vegas real estate market impact your next big move? Discover the fascinating dynamics behind December 2024's record-breaking median home prices, even in the face of high interest rates and a softening market. We unravel the reasons behind over 25,000 realtors exiting the National Association of Realtors and contemplate the ripple effects on the real estate industry as we step into 2025. Join us as we extend our thoughts and prayers to those affected by the California fires and explore the influence of the Federal Reserve's decisions and stock market trends on rising mortgage rates.<br><br>Are you weighing the options between a single-family home and a condo? Our discussion spotlights the motivations and preferences of buyers in today's challenging market. While entry-level single-family homes are in high demand, we explore the allure of townhomes and high-rise condos, ideal for those craving a hassle-free lifestyle or a luxurious second home. Evaluate the incentives builders are offering for new constructions and get a glimpse into the price ranges that might fit your budget, from high-rise condos with extensive amenities to more affordable townhome options.<br><br>Navigating the real estate market as a first-time buyer or a move-up buyer? We tackle the hurdles posed by high interest rates and limited down payment assistance, shedding light on programs like Home is Possible and Chinoa. Understand the complexities and potential pitfalls of these assistance options, including restrictions on refinancing and financial implications. By sharing a realistic view of the benefits and drawbacks, we aim to empower you with the knowledge to make informed real estate decisions. Engage with us for insights and guidance tailored to your home buying journey.

Chapters

• 0:01 Las Vegas Real Estate Market Updates
• 13:12 Las Vegas Real Estate Market Dynamics
• 24:24 Down Payment Assistance Programs Discussion
• 27:51 Real Estate Marketing and Partnerships

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to Vegas Realty. Check your go-to podcast for all things Las Vegas real estate. Whether you're buying, selling or investing, we bring you the latest market trends, insider tips and expert insights to navigate the ever-changing Las Vegas realty landscape. Tune in each week as we break down the data, answer your questions and help you make the best real estate decisions in the entertainment capital of the world.

Speaker 2: 0:27

Hey, las Vegas. Thanks for joining us back here on Vegas Realty Check. I am your host, trish Williams, and I am Courtney, your co-host. Yes, and thank you for joining the show. We're on the second week of the month, so today is our market numbers, where we review over everything that happened in December. So, before we start the show, I do want to send just thoughts and prayers for this horrific fires that are going on in California, and so I have some friends out there and they've been relocated or they've had to evacuate, so it's really scary what's happening over there, and our thoughts and prayers are with you guys. So, yeah, it's terrible.

Speaker 2: 1:13

So we have a little bit, or just one headline, of news to open with. That was kind of what we were talking about last week about the people or the agents or brokerages that are leaving NAR, and we're starting to see that kind of play out in our world. Now. There was a news headline that came out this last week and it said that over 25,000 realtors have left NAR in December. So that was December of 2024. And this is getting real out there. That's a lot, a lot of people. That is a lot of people. I mean, nar is huge, it's nationwide, but that is definitely a big amount of people that are that are getting out of it. So we are going to see that as it progresses and I'm sure we'll be talking about that through the year here in 2025. As for this week, we can open up with our market numbers for the week absolutely so.

Speaker 3: 2:21

Single-family residences on the market today are 4,943. Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:27

So inventory has raised by 149. So we went up slightly Condos and townhouses on the market. Those are up by 40 units at 1743. So that is a good sign. Yes, we're getting some more inventory Not too much so far and we're starting to see just like a little bit of signs of things warming up here. It's very minimal, it still hasn't picked up a lot, but we're just in the early days of January. I think things are going to be getting better as we get through the month.

Speaker 2: 3:01

Absolutely, and there was 925 new listings Yep and that was at 474 from the week before, but the week before was the holidays, so not many people will post a new listing during the holidays, so that definitely makes sense. Price decreases A lot of people have been adjusting their prices, so we're at 650 for the week of price decreases and that was up 311 from the week before and we have 516 under contract, so people were still busy.

Speaker 2: 3:32

Yes, 516 is a good number and that was up 81 from the week before. So again, if that's you know five, if we start averaging 500 a week that's about 2000 a month in sales and that's still good, good, healthy number. I say it a million times 3,000 is my favorite, but 2,000 is pretty good too.

Speaker 3: 3:54

You'll take it, I'll take 2,000. And 352 were sold, which is down 89 from last week.

Speaker 2: 4:01

Yeah, so sold numbers are down, but we did. We had a couple weeks. Yeah, so sold numbers are down, but we did. We had a couple of weeks of holidays, so not a lot happened during that time. So solds usually take about 30 days before they, you know, post and reflect, so nothing out of the ordinary. Numbers look pretty good, good, yeah. Um, before we get into December numbers, there's a couple notes that I wanted to make on what happened in December, just like a couple of side notes or comments. December of 2024 was the highest median price in all of history in Las Vegas. That's crazy, yeah, so even though our market had softened, our sales have softened and rates are not pretty. We definitely had the highest median price in all of history in December in Las Vegas. And where are rates this week? Since we're talking about weekly stats, so let's talk about that.

Speaker 3: 4:58

So you know, I always like to say either way, it's always best to buy right. There's so much value in that, building equity and things. Today's rates, as far as today, were not great. There's been, you know, some things going on as far as the stock market's actually been doing really well. So typically when that happens people don't buy bonds and not to go down the rabbit hole, but usually that makes the rates go up a tad.

Speaker 3: 5:22

So right now, as of today, we're seeing on a 30-year conventional at a 7.2. That's a national average. On your FHA and VA, we're looking right at about a 6.5. So our conventional 30 years. It did go up the last few days, but this is the highest it's been since June, so that's not to say that it won't start trending down. We've had conversations, obviously, about what our hopes are for 2025. And statistically, based on a lot of different factors, we're hoping to get into the low sixes by the end of the year. Fingers crossed, but that's where we are as of today. So the rates did go up a decent amount the last couple of days.

Speaker 2: 6:03

So a couple of questions. Are the feds going to be meeting soon and it seems like their adjustments just really aren't reflecting in mortgage rates. So I was at a spot where it was like I hope the fed meets and I hope they drop the rate. And you know, and they did. They did it three or four times but nothing happened.

Speaker 3: 6:22

So we'll see what happens with the new presidency Once they meet. We just, you know, there's no crystal ball to let us know. Obviously they came down a tad last year and then they came back up, not as high as they were at one point, but every time they meet, based on you know, there's been a lot of changes. President. A new president being in office again is the biggest change. So we'll see when they meet what happens. But statistically, when the stocks are doing really well, the rates tend to go up a tad, just because people aren't buying in the bond market.

Speaker 2: 6:52

Yeah, absolutely. Do you think that all the stuff that's happening right now in California with these wildfires and everything? I've had a couple of people say, how's this going to affect housing? And I don't really know, Do you like, do you see that like playing out in housing anywhere? I mean, I'm sure it's going to affect insurance, which does affect housing, but I don't know if the fires specifically are going to have an effect.

Speaker 3: 7:18

From somewhat of an experience. A lot of clients have moved from California to here and so you know that, especially within the last few months, what I've seen is a ton of people from California coming because the fire insurance has gotten so expensive. We had a client from Laguna who's lived there for 20 years. Their fire insurance went up to $20,000 a year. So at that point, when you have people who have money moving here, obviously we know what it does to the values. Now, what it's going to do to the rates, we don't know, but the values aren't coming down. So we obviously don't have a ton of control over the rates, but I guess we're going to see. I think it's going to increase the home values even more than more people that are moving here from California. Oh yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 8:04

And that's always.

Speaker 2: 8:05

It's been a driver in our market for the last few years because, Californians have been coming out here for multiple different types of reasons and this flood of people coming specifically from California and I know some people say like that's so, you know, like it's just they think it's a joke but it's absolutely fact that there is this flood of people that have been moving here and that has definitely helped move our housing market up and help move those median price ranges up, absolutely. Yeah, september of 2024, I know we're talking about December numbers, but this was just a side note that I had In September 2024, it was the lowest number of closing in 17 years. I think I may have mentioned that on the show before, but as I was just reflecting over the charts and numbers, again, that's still something to keep in mind. Even though we have the highest median price in December, september was lowest number of closing in 17 years. That's a lot. So that didn't have any effect on that price, though that median price still held very steady regardless.

Speaker 2: 9:17

And then we have some stats to get into for the month of December, but just quick notes as we're looking at those stats for the month of December, but just quick notes as we're looking at those stats. The vacant homes the homes that were sold that were vacant were definitely on the higher took the higher number there Almost 60%, almost 60%. Yeah, so that's showing if you do have a house on the market, a vacant home is looking more attractive. They're selling at a higher rate right now, um, because, probably because there's there's inventory to choose from and people are just choosing the vacant, they can kind of see the layout a little bit better. And, um, sometimes we have challenges when homes are occupied.

Speaker 3: 9:59

Absolutely. And then 99% were, uh, non-owner occupied, were sold yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:08

So that is 99.2% of the homes that were on the market that were non-owner occupied sold. So that is definitely those are selling at a way stronger rate than the homes that are occupied, absolutely. So yeah, let's get into these market numbers for the month of December.

Speaker 3: 10:37

So under single family units we have 1,811 units sold.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Yep and the median price range of those units was $475,000. That was the median sold price of the units sold, which came down.

Speaker 3: 10:53

I think we were closer to right around $500,000, weren't we.

Speaker 2: 10:57

The median list price is still. It's $499,978. So it's showing that they're up from the month prior. So, yeah, I do think that we had a period in the last year or so where it did hit over 500, but that was probably the list price versus sell price.

Speaker 3: 11:18

Yeah, absolutely. And as far as new listings, we do have 1,754 as of December, which was up 16.9%.

Speaker 2: 11:29

Yeah, yeah, definitely. A lot of new listings hit the market and the median price of the new listings was $499,978. And that brought it to an effective availability of 2.7 months, which is almost three months. I think we hit three months. Maybe it was September, we hit three months, so we're still very close to that. Condos and townhomes the units sold for those were at $4.66. Which?

Speaker 3: 12:01

is up a little bit.

Speaker 2: 12:02

Yeah, not much, but 0.5%.

Speaker 3: 12:05

And the median price was right around $290.

Speaker 2: 12:08

Yeah, and that's up too. And then new listings they were at $608. Those were up 21%. It's a lot. Yeah, it is a lot. And then median price range of the sold. We don't see this often where the median price range of the sold listings is lower than the median price or is higher than the median price range of the. Oh, I'm sorry I switched those numbers. The median price range of the new listings is higher. Okay, never mind, that was a, that was a. Can I say a blonde moment, is that okay? Okay, so units sold was at 290 for the median range and the median price range of the new listings is at 299,950.

Speaker 3: 12:55

And there's an average of effective availability of about 3.8 months, which is up a lot.

Speaker 2: 13:00

That is up a lot and that was that, uh, 54%. So those condos and townhomes are selling a lot slower than the single family Is there from on your end very specific reasons why.

Speaker 2: 13:12

Um, I think it's because there's so many, um, so much motivation in sellers right now in the single family market that, um, that they're you know, they're taking deals, they're dropping prices, they're, you know, doing doing a little more things to get buyers in there and the condos and townhomes, just you know it's. It's just looking at it from a buyer. If you could own a single family house and you don't have to get in a condo or townhome and the price is similar, then they'd rather go into an entry level home than to get into a condo or townhome.

Speaker 3: 13:45

Do you find that a lot of the single family homes, as far as new construction, are offering better incentives for that?

Speaker 2: 13:50

New construction is offering really good incentives, but it would be impossible to get into a single family home. New construction in the $300,000 range and even for homes when you're into a single family home, new construction in the 300,000 range.

Speaker 2: 14:01

Um, there are, and even for homes, when you're looking at single family homes, when you're looking in that 300,000 range and, let's be honest, it's probably more like 350, 370. So it's still going to be a lot, a little bit higher than those condos and townhomes are going to be, but, um, those are definitely entry-level homes. Those are like your um they're going to be, but, um, those are definitely entry-level homes. Those are like, um, they're going to be a cookie cutter of some sort, you know, and usually just a one car garage and it's going to be a lot smaller home, but it is detached and some people see that factor is of detached is just like such a you know, strong um, strong factor no, no shared walls inside the house.

Speaker 2: 14:41

So, um, but yeah, definitely those are not going to be your. You know large lots with privacy and things like that. It's going to be a very entry level home, yeah. Yeah, if you're looking for like I would say, like your average, 22 to 2,500 square foot home with a decent sized lot um, you know three or more bedrooms, you're probably still in the 500 range.

Speaker 3: 15:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:07

Yeah, or above again. There's there's factors. There's differences, for sure. Yeah, there's a lot of factors out there. What's the?

Speaker 3: 15:15

minimal price point you're seeing for like a standard very basic cookie cutter new build.

Speaker 2: 15:20

Um, new build. Uh, so, single family, I would I would say still around 500 minimum. Townhome um townhome brand new? Um, probably if, if we're doing con like, they have condos that are basically townhomes now, but they're still condos and I don't I there. There used to be a big definition between what was a condo and what was a townhome and now they're basically the same thing, especially with what they're building these days. So I'm seeing that entry-level price. I think the lowest that I've seen so far on a condo townhome brand new was in the $340,000, $350,000 range and then they go up from there. It is very common now to see brand new townhomes or condos that are in the $400,000 range. They have a lot of amenities, they have a lot added and they're beautiful and they're big, they're larger than we used to see them in the past, but those prices are getting up there.

Speaker 3: 16:19

There's some really beautiful ones too, like in Summerlin, those townhomes, yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:23

Oh yeah, and then there's luxury townhomes of course.

Speaker 2: 16:25

So there's those, those definitely go a lot higher. And then when we're talking like high rises, high rises is another um, another Avenue that that we have out there, uh, uh, and they exist, um, there's, it's quite plentiful. Here in the Valley we have these high-rise communities and those can vary. I mean, they can start anywhere. I've seen them as low as like 250 starting, and they get to the multi-millions Absolutely. And some of them are just big, beautiful, I mean the large square footage, everything. So there's a lot of variants there. But what we typically see in high-rise is even in the lower end, where you're getting in like 250, so 250, 300 would probably just get you a studio which is kind of like a studio apartment or, to me, like a hotel room.

Speaker 3: 17:17

Yeah, I mean literally. We've done loans on those like condo tells, and they're 500 square feet, maybe, if that.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Yeah, and their HOAs, even though their prices are so low, because some people are like, oh wow, it's a good price. I'm going to do that. Hoas are usually high. Um, I would say minimum I've seen is 500 and that is definitely the low end when it comes to those like condo tells and high rises and things like that.

Speaker 2: 17:43

So, um, those are. It's not always the sell price, it's the HOA as well, because that HOA, even though it includes a lot of amenities, I was going to say the amenities are incredible, but the amenities are incredible. But, um, it's an option, because some people don't want, you know, they don't want the maintenance. They want to live this like, um, you know, just kind of I see it as like a bachelor lifestyle or whatnot. You know just this you're um, you know it's like you're. It's like you're living in a hotel all the time, but you have concierge service, you have access to, like you know, clubhouses, cabanas out by the pool. You have everything that you need without the maintenance and upkeep of keeping up a home.

Speaker 3: 18:24

I think it's great too If it's like a second home. You can just come here, you don't have to worry about the lawn and the pool and all of these other things. So I think a lot of people use those condo tells or condos high rises as second properties.

Speaker 2: 18:35

Yeah as second homes and also there's a lot of projects here in the Valley that allow you to. You know we have very strict Airbnb rules. Palms is one of them. That, um, that whole tower is already approved for short-term rentals, so you don't have to get a separate license for Airbnb. You're already kind of in it and you can do the short-term rental programs. You can do that there, um, so some people that want to have that short-term rental and also have a vacation home but rent it out when they're not using it, that's a great option.

Speaker 3: 19:23

It's a lot of money coming in too, because people are always renting yeah.

Speaker 2: 19:27

I I seen the net and it was a. It was on a palms, um, and I think gosh, I think our our price on that was two, 80, um, you know two, 80 and maybe like a five $600 HOA, you know so not. You know. $280 and maybe like a $500, $600 HOA, you know so not. You know. It just wasn't too bad, but the revenue that it was bringing in looked amazing amazing for that price.

Speaker 2: 19:48

So definitely it's an avenue. It's an avenue to talk about. If it's something you're not thinking about and you're looking for that investment slash vacation home, it's an avenue to consider. Investment slash vacation home, it's an avenue to consider. So let's talk time on the market Days on the market for a unit sold. This is over on that. Okay, you're there. Okay. So under 30 days. So homes that have sold over under 30 days. That was half of the homes on the market Sitting right at about 50%.

Speaker 2: 20:19

Yeah, 50%, and those sold 30 days or less, where we usually have a lot higher number of that 30 days.

Speaker 3: 20:28

I think at one point you couldn't find a house. So I mean, literally people were, you know, giving $50,000 over asking. So I mean I think things are moving a little bit slower.

Speaker 2: 20:39

Obviously, december is a different ballgame with the holidays, but yeah yeah, that's a pretty low number than we're used to seeing here in Vegas and some people that have sold homes in the past and are selling homes right now have a struggle with that because they're used to, you know it's instant. It's that instant gratification. They're used to like the homes listed. Now we have offers within a couple of days and they're like kind of panicking. But in the grand scheme of things, really in most markets that are not Vegas, a home taking over 30 days to sell is not out of the ordinary.

Speaker 3: 21:17

No, I think everything was just moving so quickly at one point, and I think that's where you start seeing some of those price decreases coming into, based on how quick they need to move.

Speaker 2: 21:27

Yes, absolutely, motivation does make a difference. I had a seller that the house was on the market for. Oh, it was killing me, like you know. A few months I'm just like, ah, what's going on here? And you know that happens. This market this last year has been challenging. It does happen where it was definitely out of the ordinary in the past. It is happening now and you know it's just really. You know it's a lot of stress, but then you know, even after all of that, an offer came in. It's a lot of stress, but then, even after all of that, an offer came in. So we just have to kind of stick it out. Continue the marketing, stay with it.

Speaker 2: 22:07

Be a tad bit more patient. Be a tad bit more patient, Adjust as necessary. And definitely it's a price war in a beauty contest. You have to make sure the home is looking its absolute best and that you are priced best amongst all the competition. And that's really what it takes in this market.

Speaker 3: 22:25

And if the house isn't as great looking. You know there's especially if it's priced really right there are a lot of people who will buy it and fix it up and sell it. So, yeah, I think you can't win them all. It either has to look good and you can sell, or get more of what you want, or take the price down. Yeah, definitely, and 31 to 60 days. We're sitting right at a 24.4%.

Speaker 2: 22:46

Yeah, so definitely a higher number in that 31 to 60 days market. And then this 90 days number. We usually see that pretty low and I think 12, it's a 12.3%, which I think is high for a 90-day number. That is high. Yeah, so that's 60 to 90 days Over 120 days. We're at 5.8% and numbers even higher in the 121, up to 121 and beyond days is we're at 7.4. Yeah, so definitely we're taking a little bit longer to move these properties, but we do have hope for January. I do think that things are going to pick up and we're going to be able to get out of that staleness that we had.

Speaker 3: 23:34

I do as well.

Speaker 2: 23:35

This is the season, usually tax season, Don't you do? You guys end up getting a lot of like new loan applications and things like that.

Speaker 3: 23:42

I think some people are waiting for, you know, to get a refund on their taxes and they have a plan of getting a little bit more money put into their pocket. So we typically do, and I think I think last year there was a lot of uproar with elections and all of that, so this year I think everything's a lot more settled. I do think the first quarter is going to be really, really good. I think there's going to be a lot of movement and I think you know I think things are going to start going downward as far as rates.

Speaker 2: 24:22

I do think that's going to happen. Yeah, we really need that to happen. Right now we're in an environment where I guess the move up buyers aren't really struggling as much, because they have their equity.

Speaker 1: 24:29

they have their down payment.

Speaker 2: 24:30

They have things to buy the rate down different, different options there where the rates are not pretty but still it can make it doable. But those entry level buyers are having such a hard time. Yeah, it's rough, yeah, yeah, that it is definitely a challenge out there. So that is we. We have to get more of those entry-level buyers into homes or make it possible for them to be able to get into homes. We used to have a lot of different assistance programs and things like that here in the Valley. It was like for a while it felt like there was a different program every year, but I haven't heard of really anything except for Home is Possible lately.

Speaker 3: 25:13

Yeah, and I'm going to go into detail on all of those down payment assistance programs in other episodes and each one I'll break down. The standard ones are like Home is Possible, Chinoa. We use some of the same, but I think at that point when we're trying to get someone into a new home, typically a lot of times it can be finances that can be the issue. So it's really looking at, you know, when we go with one of those options where the rate goes to and if it's affordable.

Speaker 2: 25:45

Yeah, because the rates are so much higher.

Speaker 3: 25:47

on those programs. They are higher, and so, you know, I think there's a lot of pluses to it, but I also think, of course and so you know, I think there's a lot of pluses to it, but I also think, of course, there's also things that come with that. So our goal is really to try to make it doable and affordable for someone to get into a home and do what we can to make it possible, but the payment has to be doable.

Speaker 2: 26:03

Has to be affordable and I think the struggle that most people have are when people ask me about down payment assistance and what programs are available right now, which is, like you said, Home is Possible, Chinoa, things like that. The struggle is not just that the rate is higher, but that there's a time frame of how long it is before you can refinance Correct. On a typical loan, you do six payments and you can refinance.

Speaker 3: 26:31

So we're going to go over that too, and I go in depth on each program because there has been some caveats. A lot of them were three years or you if you refinance out of it before three years, you actually have to pay back the interest.

Speaker 2: 26:43

Yeah, yeah. So there's definitely some some challenges there with the rates being higher, because if rates come down and you're stuck in this like three year period or this I want to say penalty period, right Cause that's kind of what it is If you're stuck in that period, you can't refinance right away and you can't lower that rate if the opportunity comes. So that's why a lot of people are just opting not to use those programs. Or it has to be paid back, yeah, or it has to be paid back.

Speaker 3: 27:11

So, as much as you know we want to do what we can, we also want to be realistic on on what that looks like for a buyer and make sure that they know, you know, the good and and somewhat of some of the challenges that come with those programs.

Speaker 2: 27:24

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, courtney, if somebody wants to talk to you about different loan options, how to get some money to buy a house- how do they get a hold of you?

Speaker 3: 27:34

You can get a hold of me and get some money at 702-416-6918.

Speaker 2: 27:40

All right, thank you. If you guys need to help find that house, once you get the money from Courtney, you can give me a call at 702-308-2878. If you are watching our show, please continue to follow us like, share, subscribe, tell your friends, check out all of our links to connect with us everywhere at wwwrealtycheckvegas and that's where you can find everything about us. And we do want to give a shout out to our new marketing partner, which is Chicago Title. You see them there on the screen. They do title and escrow here in the Valley and they're a very reputable and great company to work with. So we have some partners there that can help you if you are looking into title information or when you purchase a home opening escrow. All of that good stuff, all the fun stuff, all the fun stuff. So thanks, guys, and we will see you next week on our show. And thanks for tuning in. Have a great week. Bye, thank you.