Looking at homes for sale in Las Vegas you will see that volumes are on a par with those seen in 2004-2006. In addition to this trend of increased closings there has been a reduction in the time spent on the market for housing units sold. The affordability of housing relative to the last few years is bringing people back into the market. And one interesting fact that is often overlooked is that there is actually a shortage of non-distressed product.

Source: SalesTraq

Of the buyers in today’s market around half are investors, many of whom are cash buyers. In February it is estimated that 52% of all transactions were cash deals. This puts individual purchasers trying to get a foot on the property ladder at a distinct disadvantage as sellers prefer cash buyers rather than those that have to qualify for financing. Furthermore the market is saturated with Las Vegas short sales which generally take months of negotiations to close as the banks are overwhelmed with inventory and under-staffed.

In today’s market one product that is not common is non-distressed real estate: i.e that is not bank-owned, is in a good state of repair, is ready for occupancy, and can be readily financed by Conventional, FHA or VA loans. The graph below shows the limited supply of non-distressed real estate relative to the market.

Source: SalesTraq