LV home buyers found in apartment complexes, on Internet

Real estate brokers who aren't marketing homes to apartment dwellers and Internet users are missing out on a big potential market.

That was part of the second quarter Las Vegas housing market forecast issued Wednesday by Marketing Solutions.

Stephen Bottfeld of Marketing Solutions said potential home buyers are willing to live longer in apartments before buying homes.

But with the average house shopper who lives in an apartment paying rent in the $900 to $1,000 range, the move up to home ownership costs isn't a big jump.

"If you are not direct marketing to apartments in your area, you're missing a major source of business," Bottfeld said.

Another group of potential buyers use the Internet. Bottfeld said 57 percent of housing shoppers surveyed use the Internet, up from 33 percent just 18 months ago. And 45.2 percent know there is housing information online. In the future, that could change the way agents sell homes.

Deb Ward of the online publication lasvegas.com said the online market was "explosive."

"Within the next year you're going to see 80 to 90 percent of people using computers," Ward said.

Those people are ripe for buying houses, she added, in that they tend to be 18- to 49-years old and make $50,000 to $75,000 per year. Ward added that 60 percent of Internet users plan to move within the next year.

Ward said in the future there will be potential for people to see houses online through "virtual shopping," meaning they won't have to come to a city to see a prospective house.

These aren't the only changes in the demographics of buyers, though. More and more minorities are entering the housing market and the number of household members is increasing.

The number of Hispanic buyers in the Las Vegas market doubled in 1997 to 8 percent and increased to 9.6 percent of the market this year. Blacks comprise about 11.2 percent of the market.

"We're seeing a lot more diversity in this marketplace," Bottfeld said.

While ethnicity in the market increases, so does the size of the household, both in terms of children and adults. Family size has grown to a median 2.15 members per household, up from 1.88 people last year. Moreover, 21 percent of families in the market are planning for more children, according to Bottfeld's survey.

The number of older adults living with their married children or adults returning home to live with parents is also increasing. Some 9.8 percent of households now have more than three adults living in them.

"The extended family market is real," Bottfeld said.

Those factors and others translate into buyers wanting bigger houses. Four-bedroom houses are now the most popular, especially in the upscale market, and more people are wanting home office space. Prospective buyers want a median 1,844-square-foot house, according to the survey, and are willing to pay more on average.

"I think we're going to continue to see an emphasis on large houses and higher prices," Bottfeld said.

As for the future of the housing market in the Valley, the message is old -- the housing boom is expected to continue.

Housing permits issued through May stood at 9,620, up 10 percent from 1997, said Dennis Smith of Homebuilders Research. He predicted housing sales in the Valley will top 20,000 this year.

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