I wanted to give you an update on inventory. When things were slow in Las Vegas/Henderson/ N. Las Vegas (Fall of 2007) we had 24,000 condos, townhouses and homes on the market. Our market picked up in the spring of 2008 and we had approximately 22,000 units on the market. We slowed down a little in the fall of 2008 primarily due to the state of the economy and uncertainty with mortgage rates and criteria. During that time our inventory was around 21,500. Right now we have a little over 16,000!! That's a tremendous decline in inventory.
Also, an average month for us up until Feb. of this year has been 2700-4000 contingent or pending units in escrow. Right now we have slightly over 10,000. That just shows you how fantastic our buyer volume is right now. Even if the banks add to the inventory we should be okay, as long as we stay under that 18,000 unit number we'll be healthy and strong as a market.
Did the bank moratorium on foreclosures work? Still too early to tell. Yes, we've seen more properties come on the market since the March 31 lift but the prices of these properties for the most part has been so low, investors are smacking their lips. Lots of cash buyers and investors are in our market right now.
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Interesting that sales have been on the rise and the appraisers are still reporting Las Vegas as a declining market. Perhaps they are gearing up for the potential wave of inventory that the banks could unload upon our city at any time. Most REO agents I know are getting assignments again. I think it will be a couple of months before we see the inventory surge as those properties are in the eviction/trash out/pre-list phase.
Also interesting is that 35% of closings in April were all cash buyers.