New Home Sales Slow in Las Vegas as Prices Hit All-Time High

Sales of new homes around Las Vegas have slid into a ditch as would-be buyers struggle with record-high prices.

Developers sold 942 new homes in March across Southern Nevada, 10 percent fewer than a year earlier as the typical price jumped 9.6 percent to a record $530,000, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, citing figures from locally based Home Builders Research.

At the same time, home builders had 810 net sales, or newly signed sales contracts minus cancellations, which plunged 39 percent. New home permits fell 25 percent from a year ago.

The slowdown points to a shrinking pool of buyers who can or want to pay for the higher-priced, newly built homes in or around Las Vegas.

Over the past two years, permit activity has trended downward. But while the overall drop in net sales “seems rather drastic,” average weekly sales “remain solid,” Andrew Smith, president of Home Builders Research, states in the report.

He added that builders keep slowly raising their base asking prices, and that the conversion rate at which buyer traffic results in deals is on par with last year, and higher than in 2023.

While new home sales slowed in the wake of record prices, sales of previously owned homes in Southern Nevada rose, despite a price uptick. At the same time, available inventory soared.

Buyers inked contracts for 2,140 used single-family homes in March, up 3 percent from a year earlier, according to Las Vegas Realtors. They paid a median price of $485,000, up 4 percent.

By the end of the month, more than 5,400 homes were on the market, up 63 percent from the same time last year.

As a result, the spring homebuying season this year is “lackluster” as record-high housing costs and widespread economic instability keep would-be buyers at bay, Redfin reported this week.

Across the U.S., the pace of sales for new single-family homes in March rose 6 percent from a year earlier, while the typical price fell 7.5 percent, federal figures show.

— Dana Bartholomew