Geography and Demographics of the Las Vegas Real Estate Market
The Las Vegas real estate market consists of land and properties in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in the Southern part of the state of Nevada. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is also known as the Las Vegas-Paradise-Henderson Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Metropolitan Statistical Areas are central urbanized areas consisting of a relatively high population density. They can be made up of multiple counties, but in the case of the Las Vegas metropolitan area consists of just Clark County, which is the 15th largest county in the U.S. and is made up of five cities: Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Mesquite, and North Las Vegas.

A central part of the metropolitan area is the Las Vegas Valley, a 600 square mile basin, which includes the metropolitan area’s largest city, Las Vegas. Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada, and the 28th most populous city in the United States with an estimated population of 558,383 as of 2008.

The estimated population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area as of 2008, was 1,865,746. Back at the time of the 2000 census the racial makeup of the MSA was 71.58 White, 9.08% Black, 5.74% Asian, 0.79% American Indian and 12.81% of other or mixed race, and the median income for a household in the MSA was $44,616 and the median income for a family was $50,485. The per capita income was $21,785.

Economy of the Las Vegas Real Estate Market
Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, and is home to fourteen of the U.S.’s fifteen largest hotels. The Las Vegas economy is driven by leisure and tourism, with the key employment sectors for the last decade having been construction, especially residential construction, and leisure and hospitality. The Las Vegas recovery will be driven by improvements in the national economy fueling tourism, and by the imbalances in the local housing market correcting. Economic recovery in Southern Nevada will probably lag behind the rest of the country as employment and wages will have to rebound nationally before visitor volume and gaming revenue can rebound locally.

Other sectors that male a contribution to the economy are conventions, shopping, and restaurants, and like casinos these are mainly fueled by tourists. The pro-business tax climate has seen the commercial sector steadily growing, and in addition to this government, the military and schools are significant employers.

The Las Vegas-Paradise MSA lost 58,600 jobs between May 2008 and May 2009, sending the unemployment rate to 11.1 percent. The largest loss of jobs occurred in construction (-17.3 percent), information (-10.9 percent) and professional & businesses services (-9.3 percent). Gaming revenues and visitor volume are down compared to April 2008, and only the deep discounts offered by local hotels have improved room occupancy. Multiple gaming companies are in default on their debt or declaring bankruptcy. Condo projects have seen their prices fall approximately 30 percent from their peak. Home foreclosures remain high throughout the Valley, and apartment occupancy is at its lowest level in 10 years.

All real estate sectors have grown with the economy: casinos have driven demand for off-strip warehouses; a growing business community has seen more offices being built; and retail has grown as a tourist attraction as well as to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population. The residential real estate sector has been hard hit by the recent economic downturn, and consists of a wide range of stock from single family homes, through to luxury condos.

Las Vegas Casino Industry – the commercial real estate driver
In the first six months of 2009 Nevada’s gaming revenues were down 13.5%, and 14.7% on the strip. In June the state’s gaming revenue sunk to 2004 levels: casinos collected $818.2 million from customers in June, which is a 13.8% decline from June 2008, and is the 18th straight monthly decline. On the Strip gaming revenue fell 14.8% in June to $414.5m.

A lot of Las Vegas’s appeal is based on the discretionary income that had increased through stock heavy 401Ks, home value increases, and easy lending practices. This lead to a building boom and focus on higher end casinos.

Las Vegas is more highly correlated with the national economy than it was previously because of its reliance on this discretionary income which has been eroded by the current recession. The wealth effect that drove Vegas’s boom is unlikely to come back quickly, particularly in the middle-market segment of customer.

The way that Las Vegas has traditionally worked is to have each building cycle create it in demand. But the idea of “build it and they will come” is clearly not something that will work in the current environment, and there is a significant supply of housing coming online.

Basically the industry built some very grand casinos based on average room rates in excess of $250 per night and with easy access to financing. With room rates below half that target the debt is becoming harder to service, and it may be the case that the cost structures are unsustainable, and that the next few years will witness collapses and changes of ownership. It may the case that the bull cycle owners go bust, and it is the next owners that make the money.

The Las Vegas Office Real Estate Market
There is 32 million square feet of offices over 10,000 square feet in Las Vegas, excluding those which are owner-occupied, or medical office buildings. Whilst one million square feet of office space was built in 2008, this was just 37% of 2007 levels. Vacancies in offices stood at 17% by the end of 2008.

The Las Vegas Retail Real Estate Market
There is 61 million square feet of off-the-Strip non-owner occupied retail buildings larger than 20,000 square feet. Vacancy in retail space stood at 9.9% at the end of 2008, which is double the rate at the end of 2007. With rising unemployment, and a fall in the discretionary spending of consumers the retail sector has been hard hit.

Las Vegas Residential Real Estate Market
In July foreclosure filings were up 32% on the same time a year earlier, and Nevada had the nation’s highest foreclosure rate for the 31st straight month. Deutsche Bank estimates that the MSA of Las Vegas-Paradise has 81% of homeowners who own homes valued at less than is owed on them, and it predicts that this will increase to 90% by the first quarter of 2009. These price pressures are likely to drive an increase in foreclosures. In the multi-family home sector vacancy rates increased from the average of 7.68% in 2007 to 8.76% in 2008. In the Class A sector the vacancy rate for apartments was 7.80%, Class B was 9.26% and Class C was 9.04%.

The Las Vegas Industrial Real Estate Market
Of the 102 million square feet of industrial real estate in Las Vegas, approximately 35 million is warehouse distribution, of which 40% is Grade A quality. Typical warehouses are around 100 to 250,000 square fee, but there are also larger distribution centers, and industrial parks of multiple buildings. North Las Vegas and the South West are the dominant sub-markets. In addition to servicing the Las Vegas MSA population of two million, and its massive hotel industry, the warehouses are used as regional distribution hubs for the 11 south-west states that can be reached overnight.