by Calculated Risk on 6/10/2014 01:12:00 PM

This is a key distressed market to follow since Las Vegas has seen the largest price decline of any of the Case-Shiller composite 20 cities.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Southern Nevada home prices rebound in May, GLVAR reports

According to GLVAR, the total number of existing local homes, condominiums and townhomes sold in May was 3,450, up from 3,215 in April, but down from 3,884 one year ago.

GLVAR said 40.2 percent of all existing local homes sold in May were purchased with cash. That’s down from 41.4 percent in April, well short of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent and suggesting that investors are accounting for a smaller percentage of local buyers.
...
In May, 7.9 percent of all existing local home sales were short sales, down substantially from 12.4 in April. Another 9.1 percent of all May sales were bank-owned properties, down from 11.4 in April.
...
The total number of single-family homes listed for sale on GLVAR’s Multiple Listing Service in May was 13,637. That’s down 1.4 percent from 13,833 in April and down 1.3 percent from one year ago.

By the end of May, GLVAR reported 6,615 single-family homes listed without any sort of offer. That’s up 3.0 percent from 6,420 such homes listed in April, and a 100.6 percent jump from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 2,258 properties listed without offers in May represented a 0.3 percent decrease from 2,264 such properties listed in April, but a 76.8 percent jump from one year ago.
emphasis added

There are several key trends that we've been following:

1) Overall sales were down about 11% year-over-year.

2) Conventional (equity, not distressed) sales were up 27% year-over-year.  In May 2013, only 57.9% of all sales were conventional equity.  This year, in May 2014, 83.0% were equity sales. 

3) The percent of cash sales has declined year-over-year from 57.9% in May 2013 to 40.2% in May 2014. (investor buying appears to be declining).

4) Non-contingent inventory is up 100.6% year-over-year (double)!

Inventory has clearly bottomed in Las Vegas (A major theme for housing last year).  And fewer distressed sales and more inventory (a major theme for 2014) suggests price increases will slow.