2008 ended with a total of 29,062 residential sales in the Las Vegas/Henderson/North Las Vegas area. This is up considerably from 2007, when there were a total of 19,179 residential sales. Even more striking is a comparison between December, 2007 and December, 2008. There were only 1,156 sales in December, 2007 and a total of 2,901 for the same month in 2008. In looking back to 2006, there 2,094 sales in the month of December, when the real estate market had only begun to show signs of slowing.
Let’s look back at previous years’ sales
2006 31,489 (This should have been a wake up call.)
2005 43,934
2004 45,099
2003 37,253
2002 28,952
Las Vegas has been joined by Los Angeles and San Diego in booming sales numbers. Other parts of the country are just beginning to experience slow downs. Formerly healthy markets in Atlanta, Charlotte, NC, Raleigh, NC, Seattle and Portland, OR are seeing falling prices and sluggish sales.
The Las Vegas market should continue to see low median home sale prices throughout 2009, but the drastic fall in prices is probably over. If we see an increase in prices, it will be because houses priced over $300,000 may start to sell in greater numbers.