Nevada – A Housing Market That’s Starting to Look Up
Nevada was one of the hardest-hit states by the Great Recession. In fact, this state got walloped so hard that the tiny town of Empire – a city built around a huge drywall manufacturer – became a ghost town. Literally. When the housing industry collapsed, there was no need for drywall, so Empire lost everything, including its zip code!
So, what does Nevada’s housing market look like today?
Realtors in Nevada are hoping that rock-bottom is behind them. And, so far, that seems to be the case in the northern part of the state (including Reno) – where the number of home sales jumped 65% between 2011 and 2012. The construction industry here is slowly trying to start back up, as nearly 1,000 newly-constructed homes will be for sale at some point during 2013.
However, that’s still pales in comparison to pre-recession numbers. Back in 2005, there were 4,000 new homes sold.
Interestingly, a large portion of the homes for sale in Reno are being paid for with cash. That’s a sign that investors are taking advantage of the area, which signals that it’s moving in the right direction. However, that’s also a sign that “traditional” buyers will have some competition when they decide to put in an offer on a home. For sellers in the Reno-area, though, that’s a good thing. After all, thanks to basic supply and demand, the more competition there is, the higher prices will go!
What about Las Vegas? Should you take bets on the housing market’s future here?
According to realtors in Nevada, if you go solely by the lack of foreclosures, yes. Because the number of foreclosures dropped 9.5% in 2012, it allowed home prices to go up. In any metro, that’s a good thing, but it created an especially-important cycle in Las Vegas.
How so?
Las Vegas had an abnormally-high number of “underwater” homeowners (meaning they owed more on their homes than what the homes were actually worth). As a result, those homeowners couldn’t even consider putting their homes up for sale. If they did, they’d wind up in the red with all of the money they’d owe to the bank!
But once foreclosures stopped dominating the market – and home values started going back up – more people were able to get out from under their mortgages. Then, they could sell their homes if they wanted to, and the local housing market could start to turn in the right direction.
Realtors in Las Vegas say there’s still a low inventory of available homes for sale. When you couple that with buyers demand, it will drive prices up even more – meaning that Las Vegas’ housing market becomes less of a gamble by the day!
Realtors in Nevada admit the state has a long way to go – especially when it comes to fixing an unemployment rate that’s highest in the nation – but things here are definitely better than they have been in awhile!