Residential brokerage Douglas Elliman is betting on Las Vegas.
The company said Tuesday it is opening an office in the city’s Downtown Summerlin development. Nevada is the fourth state in the brokerage’s move into the West, after California, Colorado and Texas.
Howard Lorber, executive chairman of the brokerage, said the move was “to be where our customers want to be.”
“Not only do they want the kinds of properties you can only find in this region, but they also want to be in low- and no-tax states like Nevada and Texas,” said Lorber, whose firm is headquartered in high-tax New York, its top state by revenue.
Other states have indeed gained population much faster than New York, which next year will have only 26 House districts, down from 45 half a century ago. Congressional seats are based on population.
Douglas Elliman also announced that Avi Dan-Goor, a Southern Nevada-based sales executive with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, is joining the company. His team will be based out of the Las Vegas office.
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Elliman CEO Scott Durkin previously told The Real Deal that in addition to recently opened offices in Austin and Dallas, the company planned to expand to Scottsdale, Las Vegas and Nashville while investing in markets closer to its core, including Fairfield County, Nantucket and the Hudson Valley.
Las Vegas has ridden the hot nationwide housing market to record home prices powered by migration from California and elsewhere, low mortgage rates and a shortage of listings. Data from Las Vegas Realtors reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal showed April sales slowed 15 percent from 2021, but median sale price was up 26.7 percent, or $100,000, year-over-year.
Elliman’s move comes months after Los Angeles-based luxury brokerage The Agency announced it was opening a franchise in Sin City in partnership with local agent Zar Zanganeh. CEO Mauricio Umansky said the company chose Vegas in part because of the influx of Californians.
Elliman recently held a rocky earnings report, its second after spinning off from Vector Group into an independent company.
The company’s net income fell by more than 50 percent to $6.5 million in the first quarter, down from $14 million the year prior. Consolidated revenues rose to $308.9 million, an increase of 13 percent or $36.1 million year-over-year. Elliman’s real estate brokerage segment notched a gross transaction value of approximately $11.7 billion, up from $10.1 billion for the first quarter of 2021.
Despite its expansion to new markets, Lorber said the brokerage would likely cut or consolidate office space.
Sasha Jones contributed reporting.