by Calculated Risk on 1/09/2018 12:47:00 PM

This is a key distressed market to follow since Las Vegas saw the largest price decline, following the housing bubble, of any of the Case-Shiller composite 20 cities.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Even With Tight Housing Supply, 2017 Was a Strong Year for Local Home Sales; GLVAR Housing Statistics for December 2017

Despite a tight housing supply, the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS® (GLVAR) reported today that 2017 was one of the best years on record for local home sales and that home prices continued to increase from the previous year.
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By the end of December, GLVAR reported 3,827 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s down 35.7 percent from one year ago. For condos and townhomes, the 656 properties listed without offers in December represented a 27.9 percent drop from one year ago.

The total number of existing local homes, condos and townhomes sold during December was 3,204. Compared to one year ago, December sales were down 3.5 percent for homes and down 14.8 percent for condos and townhomes.

According to GLVAR, the 46,598 total properties sold during 2017 make it the third best sales year on record and the best year for existing local home sales since 2011. The 2017 sales total exceeds the 41,720 such properties sold in 2016. Last year’s total ranks just below the 47,685 sales recorded in 2009 and the record of 48,798 existing local properties sold in 2011, when prices were bouncing along a post-recession bottom and investors were dominating the market.
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GLVAR reported that 25.7 percent of all local properties sold in December were purchased with cash, compared to 28.7 percent one year ago. That’s less than half of the February 2013 peak of 59.5 percent, indicating that cash buyers and investors are still active, but playing a smaller role in the local housing market.

At the same time, the number of so-called distressed sales continues to decline. GLVAR said short sales and foreclosures combined accounted for 3.6 percent of all existing local home sales in December, compared to 11 percent of all sales one year ago.

“What a dramatic change from five or six years ago,” Bishop added. “Back then, foreclosures and short sales accounted for about three out of every four homes we sold here in Southern Nevada.”
emphasis added

1) Overall sales were down year-over-year.

2) Active inventory (single-family and condos) is down sharply from a year ago.

3) Fewer distressed sales.