Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | 5 a.m.
Nearly one-third of all home sales in Southern Nevada were paid for in cash in March, according to a report released Wednesday morning.
The report, commissioned by the Las Vegas Realtors trade group, showed that 32% of all properties — existing homes, condominiums and townhomes — sold in March were purchased with cash.
That represents an 8% increase from March 2021, according to the realtor group.
The increase could be caused by multiple factors, including more investor activity in the market and a steady flow of homebuyers cashing out of the California market, where homes are generally worth more.
An all-time high of 60% of all home sales in Southern Nevada were completed as cash transactions in March 2013 following the Great Recession.
The median price for a home in Las Vegas in March was $460,000, a fresh record for the area during a period that has produced new home-price records almost every month.
The March price indicates a 27% increase from the same month in 2020. Sales, however, have slowed in what is one of the tightest home markets ever seen in Las Vegas.
Just over 4,205 existing homes sold in the area in March, down 12% from March 2021, according to the report.
“We keep expecting prices to slow down at some point, but it’s not happening yet,” said Brandon Roberts, an area Realtor and president of the trade group, in the release. “With mortgage interest rates rising recently and the inventory of homes available for sale as low as it has ever been, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see fewer homes being sold.”
The median price for an area condo or townhome in March was $270,000, also a record, and up 39% from March 2021.
Last month, just under 400 condos and townhomes were listed for sale with no type of offer, a 34% decrease from March 2021.
The Las Vegas housing market bottomed out in 2012 after the Great Recession. At its lowest level, the median price for a home that year was $118,000.
