The luxury condominium market was also expected to feel the adverse effects of this uncertain mortgage and real estate environment. And it undeniably is. Some projects have been canceled outright and some are on hold for now, obviously waiting for the financial conditions to improve and the rising construction cost trend to stabilize. This closely mirrors the single-family sector that has been soft for a while.

Through the second quarter of this year there were about 14,000 condos under construction, reports Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas financial consulting company. The most notable, perhaps, is the MGM Mirage's CityCenter that will have around 2,700 units when completed. The other big-name projects include Trump International Hotel and Tower with 1,200 plus condos and Turnberry Towers that brings in 632 units.

If you noticed, all these projects are right along the Strip corridor, which tells us that location is of paramount importance if you want to be successful. It never hurts to be near amenities such as world-class entertainment, fancy shopping and fine dining. The other location here in Southern Nevada that is still doing well with condo development is downtown, the area the city is trying hard to revitalize and seems to be making decent progress with.

It also helps to have a name like Turnberry or Trump stand tall on top of the high-rise. It's called branding in marketing talk. The prospective buyer tends to feel more secure when purchasing a home from a well-established developer whose reputation is at least national in nature, sometimes global.

The condo segment does have a bright future in Las Vegas beyond the Strip and downtown, but its true emergence is temporarily slowed by the prevailing market conditions.