Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Tax credit offers no boost to Las Vegas home sales, prices

Home Prices

Steve Marcus / File photo

Home prices appear to have stabilized in the Las Vegas Valley in recent months.

A last-minute jump in home sales expected by people taking advantage of a federal tax credit that expired April 30 hasn’t materialized so far, according to the latest statistics.

SalesTraq reported Tuesday that existing home closings in Las Vegas in May fell to 4,186, down from 4,323 in April and 1.6 percent below sales levels of May 2009.

The National Association of Realtors reported Tuesday that May’s sales fell 2.2 percent from April and analysts said that was a worrisome sign for the housing market this summer. That nearly matches the 2.3 percent decline reported for Southern Nevada by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

Under the tax credit, buyers had until April 30 to purchase a home and June 30 to close to qualify for $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for existing homeowners. The full breadth of the last-minute sales push through the end of April may not be known until this summer because Congress is considering extending the closing deadline to Sept. 30. Analysts said much of the boost from the tax credit came in 2009.

The bigger beneficiary appears to be the new-home market in Las Vegas, but not by much. The 515 closings in Las Vegas are up 33 percent over May 2009, but it is only 35 closings higher than April.

Existing home prices fell from $126,000 in April to $122,847 in May, which has been within the range of prices since April 2009.

Routine sales by homeowners fetched the highest median prices at $131,000, while foreclosure properties sold for $122,000, SalesTraq reported.

The price of short sales, homes sold for less than what’s owed on the mortgage, was $120,000.

The new-home sales averaged 2.26 sales per subdivision, which is the second highest rate in two years, said Steve Bottfeld, executive vice president of Marketing Solutions. He said it could be an indication that homebuilders have discovered buyers want smaller homes and lower prices.

The median price of new homes sold in May was $193,279, the first time the price has dipped under $200,000 since November. Some analysts expected home prices to fall slightly because some builders had excess inventory in anticipation of a rush by buyers to purchase before the tax credit expired.

Builders cut back on pulling home permits in May since the tax credit has expired. The 410 permits, while 38 percent higher than May 2009, is the lowest permit total since 316 were pulled in January, SalesTraq reported.

Foreclosures fell from 2,146 in April to 1,688 in May, but it’s still the second highest foreclosure total this year and 9 percent higher than May 2009, SalesTraq reported. For the year, however, the 6,932 foreclosures are well behind the pace of 20,426 for all of 2009.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy