Homes in the Las Vegas area sold at the fastest pace for an April in seven years due, in large, to investor and cash buying nearing record levels. Sales in the $200,000-to-$500,000 range in the Sin City picked up 81% from one-year prior.
The Las Vegas median price paid for a home increased to the highest level in nearly four and a half years, largely due to price appreciation, tight inventory, a surge in move-up buyers and a drop-off in foreclosure resales.
In the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area, 4,869 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in April, an 8.6% increase from the month before and a 7.0% rise from one-year prior, according to San-Diego-based DataQuick.
Sales have dropped 4.2% between March and April, on average, since 1994. The year-over-year increase in total sales last month follows 10 consecutive months of year-over-year declines.
April’s total sales were the highest since 2006, when 6,663 homes were sold. Last month’s sales were 4.6% higher than the average number of homes sold during all months of April since 1994.
The sales of homes for sale under $100,000 dropped 42.2% in April year-over-year, while the number of sales below $200,000 fell 13.2% from one-year prior. April sales of homes priced from $200,000 to $500,000, which includes many move-up buyers, rose 80.9% from a year earlier. The number of homes sold over $500,000 soared 138.5%.
Despite the median’s year-over-year surge in April, it was still 48.7% lower than its November 2006 peak of $312,000. The median sales price has been rising off a cyclical low point of $110,000 in January 2012, the lowest level since the median was also $110,000 in April 1994.
