Thursday, May 1, 2014

Las Vegas Housing Market

The housing market's bursting bubble has had a dramatic and rippling effect on our economy. That effect has been felt particularly hard in the Las Vegas valley. According to Standard & Poor's report on May 31st, Las Vegas-area home prices fell yet again in March. According to S&P's reports, Las Vegas-area homes are now at May 1999 levels.

One thing is for sure, a neighbor abandoning their home and leaving garbage on their yard can't be good for my home value. Has the market finally bottomed out? Will the market start to stabilize soon? Among all the depressing economic statistics there are some signs of economic recovery in Las Vegas. For example, Chapter 11 and Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filings are down 11 percent from January 2010 to January 2011. You would figure new residents and less chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney las vegas would be good for the housing market. Not everyone agrees with Blitzer's assessment, during a recent webcast market analyst Scott Sambucci said, "Plan for prices over the long term to hit a bottom, rise a bit, sink back down, rise again-a pattern we expect with the housing market for several years...the housing recovery will take a long time and it is going to happen slowly."

Sambucci's take is certainly less depressing than Blitzer's. Personally, I'll take Sambucci's assessment over Blitzer's.