The record-breaking roller coaster ride for the 2004 Las Vegas homes market is over – and the market remains strong! According to John Burns Building Market Intelligence, Las Vegas homes market rates an A+ in part because job growth is outpacing new home permits. Total single-family home permits in 2004 were 32,879 as compared to the one-year job growth number of 44,680. Las Vegas has an unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Many experts are predicting continued strong growth in the Las Vegas homes market because of the strong employment growth. Instead of being low mortgage rate-driven, the Las Vegas homes market will be employment growth-driven. Job creation results from the more than half a dozen new hotels or major hotel expansions currently under construction as well as from the approximately seventy high-rise condo projects and four major retail malls proposed. To accommodate this growth in jobs, over 7,200 people move to Las Vegas each month.

Record-breaking numbers in the Las Vegas homes market in 2004 included 29,248 new home sales which was an increase of 4,018 or 15.9 percent over the number of new Las Vegas homes sales during 2003. The 32,879 new home permits during 2004 produced an increase of 7,666 over 2003 – a 30.4 percent increase. During December of 2004, the median price of new Las Vegas homes was $290,287 which is 38.5 percent higher than during December of 2003.

In the existing Las Vegas homes market, there was an increase of 28.9 percent in homes sold during 2004 over the previous year. The total number of existing or resale homes sold during 2004 was 64,168. The median price of existing homes in the Las Vegas homes market at the end of 2004 was $250,000 which is an increase of $70,000 over December of 2003.

According to Stephen Bottfeld who is the Executive Vice President of Marketing Solutions, a consumer research company, the Las Vegas homes market is “not on a bubble, but on the edge of a boom!” Mr. Bottfeld is predicting another record breaking year in the Las Vegas homes market suggesting that there will be new home sales of over 30,000 and an increase in the median new-home price to the mid-$300,000’s.

The roller-coaster that was the Las Vegas homes market during 2004 included a scarcity of inventory during the spring. For example, during February of 2004 there were only 1,400 existing homes listed for sale in the Las Vegas Multiple Listing Service. During this period, sellers would receive multiple offers over list price. Real estate agents had the buyers and no homes to sell them. By September of 2004, the number of resale Las Vegas homes available in the MLS was over 15,000. So instead of having less than a month’s supply of homes on the market, there is a five or six month supply during the first quarter of 2005.

An interesting development in the Las Vegas homes market is that property across the Hoover Dam is beginning to be valuable and to be considered as a bedroom community for Las Vegas. Many investors are crossing state lines to buy the appealing land in this area. It will rapidly escalate in value after the completion of the Hoover Dam bypass highway in 2008.

If you have questions about the current Las Vegas homes market, contact us for a prompt response including information about the various neighborhoods and communities in the Las Vegas Valley. Also, if you would like to view all available new and resale homes, condos and land, use the Free Las Vegas Homes MLS Search for customized listings.