Economic Conditions for the Las Vegas Valley April 2008

 Housing Conditions:

• Foreclosure/Short Sale Listings (4/15/2009): Total Listings 17846; Short Sales: 6698, 37.5% of all listings; Bank Owned Listings: 5543, 32.9% of all listings. Short sale and REO listings consume 68.6% of total listings
• New Home Sales (March 2009, units sold): 466 Year Change -46.4% (excl condo conversions, highrises)
• New Home Sales (March 2009, median price): $228,030 Year Change -12.3% (excl condo conversions, highrises)
• Existing Home Sales (March 2009, units sold): 3220 Year Change +69.6%
• Existing Home Sales (March 2009, median price): $142,000 Year Change: -38.3%
• New Home Permits (March 2009): 233 Year Change -41%
• Rental Rate (MLS Monthly Average February 2009): $1365/month 

My analysis:  Distressed listings (foreclosures and short sales) are 68.6% of total listings.  Credit markets must be watched, it's hard to remain optimistic with all the bad news on Wall Street.  Resale sold units and pendings remain impressive.  Builders cannot compete with bank owned listing prices, thus sales remain lackluster. 

New Residents/Employment Conditions:

• New Residents (March 2009): 4770, Year Change -11.3%
• Total Employment (March 2009): 875,700 Year Change -5.2%
• Unemployment Rate (March 2009) 10.4%, Year Change +100%

My analysis: The tourism, gaming and convention numbers need to improve before these numbers improve.  New Resident Count will go down if no new jobs are created.  Unemployment rate is painful.

Tourism/Gaming Conditions:

• McCarran Airport Total Passengers (March 2009): 3,633,269 Year Change -11.8%
• Gaming Revenue (March 2009): $786,457,648, Year Change -9.8%
• Visitor Volume (March 2009): 3,549,864, Year Change -7.9%
• Convention Attendance (March 2009): 446,588, Year Change  -30%
• Hotel/Motel Occupancy (March 1009): 85.9% Year Change -6.8%

My analysis: Rising gas costs and flight cuts during the summer started hurting the tourism business.  This sector needs to see some serious price corrections before we see a comeback.  Corporate credit is not coming back any time soon.  Glad to see regular tourists are making their way here with the imbalance of the other numbers to replace the convention attendee numbers

Sources: Salestraq, Home Builder's Research, Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, Nevada State Gaming Control Board, Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas Convention & Visitor's Authority, Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation.  Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.  My analysis is my humble opinion.