The housing market in Southern Nevada had several strong months late in the spring and going into the summer, largely because of low mortgage rates and increasingly affordable prices. Those two conditions have that something extra to attract buyers, in this day and age mostly first-timers and investors, to make a play for it.

GLVAR, or the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, reports that for July the stats are still rather strong, although some slowdown from previous months is evident. The single-family home inventory slipped lower by 0.9%, from 20,613 in June to 20,423. It is slowly coming down. Many housing experts in Sin City would like to see it do so a bit faster. It is down, though, by 12.8% from last year.

In the statistical area that also includes Summerlin, Henderson, Green Valley, Seven Hills and Eldorado the numbers show that 3,738 single-family houses closed in July, a small 1.2% down tick from June. The nice run of continuous increases came to a halt, at least for now. Yet, it's a solid 44.2% gain from the same time last year. Nothing wrong with that.

The one sector that still causes concern among Las Vegas homeowners is the value of real estate. The median single-family price came in at $138,800, a decrease of 0.9%. If converted to an annual figure it would be 10.8%. It is high, but, on the other hand, much more palatable than the 36.9% beating the values took during the past twelve months. The price erosion is slowing considerably on the single-family product, whereas it actually gained modestly, up 1.5%, from June in the condominium and townhouse sector.

All in all, the news are cautiously optimistic.