Reversing a recent trend, the median sale price of a home in Southern Nevada ticked up in March, according to a new report from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.
The report showed that the median price for an existing home sold in March was $300,000, up slightly from $296,200 in February and up more than 7 percent from March 2018.
Home prices in the area had generally been rising since early 2012 before retreating in recent months.
“These statistics are in line with trends we’ve been seeing for several months,” said Janet Carpenter, the 2019 president of the association and a longtime area Realtor, in a statement. “Local home prices are still appreciating, but at a slower rate than they were in the years following the recession.”
The median sale price reached $300,000 for the first time in September and has been hovering around the mark ever since.
The median price of local condos and townhomes sold last month came in at $166,500, up just slightly from February. The March figure was up about 4 percent from the same month in 2018.
Following the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, home prices bottomed out in Southern Nevada at about $118,000 in January 2012.
With mortgage rates remaining near historically low levels and the lowering of some asking prices, Carpenter said things could be looking up for the area housing market this spring.
That’s despite the actual number of transactions dipping in March.
According to the report, the number of existing homes, condos and townhomes sold last month — 3,260 — represented a decrease of nearly 17 percent for existing homes and nearly 13 percent for condos and townhomes.
About 23 percent of all properties sold in March were purchased with cash, which is a figure that’s down about 2 percent from March 2018.
Home sales, of course, generally pick up during the spring and summer months. At the current sales pace, Carpenter said Southern Nevada now has less than a three-month supply of homes available on the market.
Anything under a five-month supply is generally thought of as a seller’s market.
Founded in 1947, the GLVAR serves more than 14,000 Southern Nevada agents.