Low number of houses for sale in the area means house prices continue to rise

Statistics that have been released show that the housing market in Las Vegas has improved for the fifth straight month, with house prices rising as the number of homes for sales stays low.

Speaking on behalf of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Kolleen Kelley, the Association’s president, said: “We haven't seen local home prices go up for this long since 2004.  Banks are putting far fewer homes on the market than they did in past years. This is leading to a very tight housing supply that is pushing up prices - at least for now. Only time will tell if these recent price increases prove to be somewhat artificial. I think it depends largely on how banks handle the mortgage defaults in their portfolios.”

Despite the record pace that was set in Nevada in 2011, the figures available for 2012 already show that this year is ahead of last.  In 2011, 48,186 properties that were already in existence were sold in Southern Nevada alone.

The median price for a single family home has risen by 3% during the month of June to $131,785, which also represents a 5.9% rise when compared to the same figures from 12 months ago.

The rise in prices is somewhat explained by the falling number of properties available on the market.  Compared to June last year there has been a drop from 4,540 total sales to 3,945, although experts do not see this as anything to be concerned about.

Ms Kelley went on to add that banks have been encouraging short sales and doing fewer foreclosures, which has resulted in the former finally surpassing the latter.