Las Vegas Homes, Condos, Land and Commercial Real Estate Blog

Greater Las Vegas residential real estate has suffered double digit price declines again for 2008 and will do the same for 2009, I just hope it will not be as bad. The asking prices for Las Vegas homes are more than 10% below comps, so a double digit price decline for 2009 is guaranteed. Please click on the links below to see the market reports for Greater Las Vegas residential real estate price declines.

These reports are provided by Lawyers Title and First American Title Company.

Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Unincorporated Clark County median percentage price declines for homes zip code map

Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Unincorporated Clark County median price declines by dollar amount and percentage for homes by zip code

Even though the hardest hit zip codes in 2007 were mostly those zip codes with a lot of newer construction activity like 89130, 89149 and 89052. This year the hardest hit zip codes are near Downtown Las Vegas, Strip and East Las Vegas. 89030 which borders on the west by Martin Luther King, East by Pecos and North of Owens shows a whopping 64% drop. 89101 zip code median home prices have dropped by 57% and is followed by 89107 at 50%. These are not the areas that have seen the heaviest new home construction activity in recent years and price declines have to be blamed on speculative buying and refinancing and reverse redlining.

Decatur is a North/South Street in Las Vegas and zip codes to the west of Decatur have fared noticeably better than those east of Decatur. Some of the lowest price declines occurred in the 89134 and 89144. These are mature areas of Summerlin and Summerlin usually has one of the better appreciation rates in the Greater Las Vegas Valley. Other zip codes with lower depreciation rates are Green Valley and Anthem in Henderson.

A couple of notes of caution

1: Las Vegas real estate pricing is micro local and there are communities or subdivisions that defy the pricing trends in a zip code.

2: This year’s median price depreciation rate should not be used to make a decision on a home or condo purchase in Greater Las Vegas as the next years map may looking nothing like this year.

3: Median Prices are meaningless and should be only loosely used to see trends, nothing more. Comps and an educated guess at future market trends are much more accurate means of deciding the value of a Las Vegas home than the stupid median price which is highly misused.

4: Bad press and fear mongering and attacks by politicians like Eric Cantor, Republican Congressman, who is one of those most responsible for the current economic mess, are responsible for a significant percentage of the price drops.