It was argued in a recent newspaper article that land is in short supply in Las Vegas for residential development. With current construction pace it will last only another six years. A rather short time. Because of that, BLM ought to auction off more of it, which call it resists. The alleged shortage appears to be a public relations move by the home building community, goes the counter argument. There is plenty of dirt left here for housing development.
After all, Summerlin master-planned community presently has about 100,000 residents and when completed sometime around 2025, it's expected to double that number. Inspirada in Henderson is just getting started on 2,000 acres and when finished will provide housing for about 25,000 people. There are many other projects to support the counter argument. And what about the well over 20,000 MLS listings currently looking for qualified buyers? Plenty of empty houses. Moreover, as Geoff Schumacher points out in his commentary, the valley is dotted with hundreds of vacant parcels of all sizes. So, it looks like there is land beyond the six years. Timely discussion.
Let's take the story a bit further. Whether there is enough land or not, it has become very expensive over the years. With that house prices have been pushed up quite a bit and now the scenario turns to a large extent into an affordability issue. Which is one of the reasons for the current slump. That's why some developers are taking their projects to Coyote Springs 60 miles north of town and to Northern Arizona that should experience brisk construction activity once the new bypass bridge over Colorado River is finished. If we run out of land here in the valley, there's always the next valley.
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