Las Vegas ends 2023 with the slowest home sales in 15 years

Las Vegas heads into 2024 on the heels of rising home prices and the slowest home sales in 15 years.

Residential deals across the Las Vegas Valley fell 18 percent last year compared to 2022, marking the slowest year since 2008, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing figures from Las Vegas Realtors. At the same time, home prices rose.

The median price of a single-family home increased 6 percent in December to $449,900, from $425,000 a year earlier. The all-time high was in May 2022, when the median hit $482,000.

New home listings were down 10.3 percent in December from the previous month, and down 30 percent year over year. At the same time, the average list price rose 1.3 percent from November and 19.5 percent from December 2022. 

Las Vegas Realtors President Merri Perry blamed a tight housing supply for current market conditions, and said she hopes for a rebound this year.

“It was good to see interest rates coming back down late in the year,” Perry told the Review-Journal. “That helps more buyers afford a home. 

“While we still need more homes on the market, many national experts are predicting at least some increase in the housing supply as we get into 2024,” she said. “That should help buyers and help us sell more homes.”

Last year, 29,069 homes, condos and townhomes were sold in Southern Nevada, 18 percent fewer than the 35,584 homes sold in 2022. That compares to the record of 50,010 homes sold in 2021, which beat the mark set in 2011 by around 2,000 sales.

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Redfin reported the 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.7 percent at the close of the year, but the online brokerage sees signs home sales may be ticking up. 

Redfin’s national Homebuyer Demand Index — a seasonally adjusted measure of requests for tours and other services — is up 10 percent from November to its highest level since August.

“There have been more tours and more offers on my listings since mortgage rates started declining,” Las Vegas Redfin Premier agent Shay Stein told the newspaper. “It’s all about perspective: Two years ago, buyers would have cried about a 6 percent mortgage rate. Now, they’re happy they’ve dropped down to the mid-six’s.”

— Dana Bartholomew