Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
and Las Vegas Sun

Sepr. 30, 2006

Home shoppers who visit any one of KB Home’s home collections within Sierra Ranch, a community in North Las Vegas, can register to win tickets to “Disney Live! Presents Mickey’s Magic Show.” The event takes place in the Orleans Arena next weekend.

“This is a great opportunity for Southern Nevada families to see our floor plans at Sierra Ranch and register to win the ‘Disney Live! Presents Mickey’s Magic Show’ package,” said Bonnie Hernandez, director of marketing.

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Even now, as heavy equipment peels back the cactus and creosote bush to carve out roads and building sites, it’s hard to believe that this 67-square-mile tract of empty desert will blossom into one of the biggest cities in the fastest-growing state in the country and the projected home to more than 200,000 people.

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Sep. 21, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Builders said to target urban core, valley outskirts

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A fundamental shift is occurring in the type of housing offered in Las Vegas, a real estate executive said Wednesday at the Four Seasons.

Largely due to land availability and cost, home builders are pursuing alternatives to the traditional suburban master-planned community, Ken Perlman, vice president of San Diego-based Sullivan Group, said at a market outlook for about 100 home builders, developers and real estate professionals. They’re looking at high-density infill locations closer to the core of the city and single-family, detached homes on the outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley.

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Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Sepr. 23, 2006

Special to real estateLennar’s Arroyo Canyon in the northwest valley offers its final seven homes, along with final closeout incentives, according to sales manager Michael Campbell.

“This is one of those ‘hurry- before-they-are-all-gone’ moments,” he said. “We have four floor plans available at this time for October and November closings with excellent opportunities to save thousands of dollars and take advantage of low interest rate options and reduced closing costs.”

The neighborhood of 63 homes is situated behind wrought iron entry gates and a palm-tree lined entrance leading to the Village Square neighborhood park with carriage lights. The two-story homes range from 3,265 to 5,240 square feet, and are priced from the $500,000s.

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Sep. 22, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Outlook for 2007 to be generally flat, LV analyst believes

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Las Vegas housing analyst Dennis Smith expects to see some fairly significant price cuts in the resale segment of the market in the next few months to move some of the 20,384 homes listed for sale in the valley.

The median price of a resale in August was $289,000, down $1,000 from July. Since January, the resale median has increased $4,000, or 1.4 percent.

“The good news is we’re getting closer to the bottom,” Smith, president of Home Builders Research, said Thursday. “That means it’s going to start going up sooner rather than later. I’m looking at 2007. I think ‘07 is going to be flat. You’re going to see some products come on line in ‘07 that will do well because of lower pricing.”

The number of existing home sales dropped in August to 3,641, compared with 5,786 in the same month a year ago.

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Sep. 21, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Builders said to target urban core, valley outskirts

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

A fundamental shift is occurring in the type of housing offered in Las Vegas, a real estate executive said Wednesday at the Four Seasons.

Largely due to land availability and cost, home builders are pursuing alternatives to the traditional suburban master-planned community, Ken Perlman, vice president of San Diego-based Sullivan Group, said at a market outlook for about 100 home builders, developers and real estate professionals. They’re looking at high-density infill locations closer to the core of the city and single-family, detached homes on the outskirts of the Las Vegas Valley.

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Sep. 17, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Sharks are circling the Rivera. With the rejection of a $426.5 million bid from Riv Acquisition Holdings, East Coast investors are starting new due-diligence checks. After all, the bid died because many shareholders had bought in for more per share than the proposed sales price and the company’s land was considered vastly undervalued. There was nothing wrong with the concept, just the price. The new focus seems to be mainly on the market value of the Strip land, not the company value based on cash flow or a reasonable price per share. With Strip land going for as much as $30 million an acre, but with a small property and likely demolition costs, look for new bids as high as $800 million, early expressions of interest suggest.

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Sep. 12, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Second-quarter rents in Las Vegas rise 5.3 percent from year earlier, data show

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Strong occupancy rates in apartment buildings during the second quarter sent rents climbing in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Southern California, a Novato, Calif.-based research company reported.

The average rent in Las Vegas metropolitan statistical area was $847 a month, up 1.6 percent from $834 in the first quarter and up 5.3 percent from $804 in the year-ago quarter, RealFacts reported.
Henderson had the highest average rent at $945 a month with 96.3 percent occupancy, followed by North Las Vegas at $905 a month with 95.7 percent occupancy and Las Vegas at $832 a month and 96 percent occupancy.

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Sep. 10, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Appliances, upgrades, landscaping — it’s all ‘free’

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Two years ago, when home builders ruled the roost in Las Vegas, there was no competitive need for them to leave a dime on the table for real estate agents or buyers.

Home buyers might get a small break on financing if they went through the builder’s preferred lender. As for free upgrades and options, no way. Those were used to increase the price of the house.

Now that the tide has turned to a definite buyer’s market in Las Vegas, the list of builder incentives has grown long and plentiful.

Pardee Homes is giving away a free washer, dryer and refrigerator and 2-inch miniblind package with new home purchases at its Acacia subdivision.

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Housing inventory rises slightly to 20,384 in August
By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Home sales continued to slide in Las Vegas during August, dropping 37 percent from the same month a year ago to 2,097, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Friday.

It’s the 11th consecutive month of declining single-family home sales, starting with a 1.2 percent drop in October to a 38.5 percent drop in July.

Local research firm Home Builders Research counted 26,817 resales through July, a decrease of 7,661, or 22.2 percent from a year ago.

The local housing market showed stability in the inventory of homes for sale, which grew by slightly more than 100 to 20,384 in August, and median price, up 0.6 percent from last month at $312,000. Compared with the same month a year ago, inventory is up 32.8 percent and price is up 1 percent.

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