New-home sales in Las Vegas jumped from a year ago while existing-home sales declined slightly as demand seems to have fallen back to first-quarter levels, a local housing analyst said Tuesday.
Home Builders Research reported 506 new-home sales in May, a 33.9 percent increase from the same month a year ago. For the first five months, new-home sales are up 7.7 percent to 2,016 recorded escrow closings.
The median price fell 8.1 percent, or $17,238, from a year ago to $195,752, the first time it’s fallen below $200,000 since November. It’s down from $203,085 in April.
Existing-home sales totaled 3,629 in May, down 2.3 percent from a year ago. They’re up 11.1 percent for the year to date. Median price tumbled 3.9 percent, or $5,000, to $125,000. It lost $3,000 from the previous month.
“Median price dropped,” Home Builders Research president Dennis Smith said Tuesday. “Why it dropped month to month so much, I don’t know. My gut reaction is it’s just a one-month change, not a long-term trend of continued declines.”
Builders that offered homes priced under $300,000 captured a 92 percent market share of May’s traditional new-home sales.
“If builders, suppliers and others want to ride out the present Las Vegas new-home market, they had better be focusing on homes that are in this price range,” Smith said. “Or they can wait it out, until better economic times arrive. And that could be a while.”
Las Vegas-based SalesTraq counted 515 new-home sales and 4,186 existing-home closings in May, up 32.7 percent and down 1.6 percent, respectively, from a year ago.
The median price for a new home dropped 9.5 percent from a year ago to $193,278, though price per square foot slipped just 2 percent to $104.33. On the resale side, median price decreased 1.4 percent to $122,847, while price per square foot took a 5 percent hit to $73.51.
New-home building permits rose to 410 in May, a 38 percent increase from 298 in the year-ago period, SalesTraq reported. For the first five months, the permit total is 2,328 and on pace to eclipse last year’s total of 3,776.
Two key factors were expected to severely damage May housing statistics, real estate consultant Steve Bottfeld said. One was Nevada’s unemployment rate — highest in the nation — and the other was the end of the government’s homebuyer tax credit.
“Surprisingly, the negative impact was much gentler than expected,” he said. “Perhaps a more important factor … Las Vegas may have entered the second phase of its foreclosure crisis and thus far it appears less damaging than it might have been.”
SalesTraq showed 1,688 foreclosures in May, a 9 percent increase from a year ago. That follows 2,146 foreclosures in April. Nearly 7,000 homes have been repossessed by banks this year, compared with 8,714 through May 2009.
A 10-city composite housing price index compiled by Mountain View, Calif.-based Altos Research showed a 0.2 percent increase in median price for May. It was the first positive reading following nine months of declines.
Eight of 26 major markets experienced declines in listing prices. Miami posted the largest single-month and three-month declines. Prices also fell in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Detroit, Las Vegas, New York, Salt Lake City and San Diego.
Smith of Home Builders Research said he expects housing numbers to remain strong through the end of June, when escrow closings must be completed to qualify for the tax credit. The Senate last week passed an amendment by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that would extend the closing date to Sept. 30.
The backlog of loans has overwhelmed lenders, appraisers and title companies, putting some 180,000 transactions nationwide in danger of not meeting the closing deadline, Smith said.
“You will see a decline in closings unless they put the extension into effect, if it passes the House,” he said. “I hate to get into politics, but that’s what it is. If the extension doesn’t happen, you’re going to see (sales) cancellations in July.”
Nationally, home resales fell 2.2 percent in May from April, the National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday. But excluding an 18.3 percent decline in the Northeast, sales actually rose 1.5 percent. The three remaining regions posted flat or improved sales for the month.
Economists say government incentives such as the tax credit, which expired on April 30, are creating bizarre data and should be discounted.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491. The Associated Press contributed to this report.