I am Happy to Report:
For the first time in almost three years, Las Vegas welcomes (year over year) something foreign called "APPRECIATION" in both the Condo/Townhome & SFR Residential Sectors!
Year over Year (April 2009/April 2010) Appreciation in the Las Vegas Area:
- SFR Average Price: +4.2%
- SFR Median Price: +0.2%
- Condo/Townhome Average Price: +6.9%
- Condo/Townhome Median Price: +8.5%
(source: Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors)
Did You Know?
Las Vegas Area (as a whole) has been a seller's market for a little over a year now. While I remain cautiously optimistic about our market turning to be all peaches and cream, we still have a way to go to cycle through many homeowners that are in the midst of the foreclosure process.
The Delicate Balance
Our market could still be tipped either way. Extremely high buyer interest has eaten through our pre-foreclosure (short sale) and REO inventory.
If we see a quick appearance by the "Shadow Inventory Fairy" and/or lose our buyer pool by tightening lending standards & expiration of the tax credit, we could easy find ourselves in a tailspin of declining values all over again.
If our buyer pool remains strong, gobbling up all available & sellable inventory in it's path, we shall see appreciation return for good. This will also help us cycle out of the dog-chase-tail strategic default pattern we have been seeing the last three years.
HOWEVER, it still could take a decade or two of normal appreciation for underwater homes to surface above water after experiencing three years of painful double digit depreciation.
My vote is that we can just remain stable at the very least!
