As Vegas Median Rents Close-In on 40% of Average Income, Now Seventh Least-Affordable Large City in United States

LAS VEGAS, NV – A new report indicates the ever-climbing rents in Las Vegas have reached a point where tenants have to devote a significant portion of their respective incomes to housing costs, increasing affordability concerns for a region that has otherwise always been known for its low cost of living when compared to other parts of the country.

The Realtor.com report states that the median rent in Las Vegas has reached $1,600 per month; this represents approximately 39 percent of the average monthly income in Southern Nevada, a number which is raising eyebrows, especially when compared to the median rent elsewhere in the nation comprising 30 percent of the average income.

These new numbers have catapulted Las Vegas into being the seventh least-affordable large city in the United States on a rent-to-income basis, according to the report.

The ever-increasing rents in Vegas, fueled by intense demand for housing options that have only been exasperated by the tail-end of the COVID-19 pandemic, is forcing some financially-challenged residents to resort to renting rooms in houses – some paying as much as $500 per month – or adding roommates in order to make ends meet.

The report indicates that, year-over-year from 2021, rents in Las Vegas have increased approximately 25 percent, which is a jump that is causing many people still recovering from jobs losses sustained during the pandemic to be frugal with their renting habits.

However, even resorting to renting a room to get by isn’t easy, the report says, as there can be safety and comfort concerns associated with such a move, in addition to a lack of space and/or the ability to keep pets, depending on the rules established by the person renting the space.

Luckily, experts say that the ever-increasing rents and home prices in Las Vegas are not sustainable, and expectations are that the market will eventually stabilize to more manageable levels.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Bonnie Springs Ranch, a defunct attraction near Blue Diamond, Nevada that included an 1880’s-style western town replica and a zoo, is set to get a high-end makeover in the form of a new luxury housing development.

A groundbreaking was recently held for The Reserve at Red Rock Canyon – the new name for the property – which, upon completion of construction, is slated to include 16 luxury homes, each situated upon 2 to 4 acres of land apiece.

The homes are catering distinctly to the affluent, with prices starting at a whopping $6.6 million; however, that price only includes the plot of land; if owners want to actually have a residence in which to live as well, they’ll have to build one themselves.

But despite the steep price tag for the property, owners will not have free reign to build anything their hearts desire upon it; guidelines state that any residences must be “compatible with the canyon” and not “stick out,” and the home itself is encouraged to be comprised of several structures as opposed to “one giant building.”

Once development is finished, The Reserve at Red Rock Canyon – located off State Route 159 – will take the form of a guard-gated community comprised of over 60 acres, with the majority of it surrounded by federally-owned land and some degree of private property.

Homeowners will have access to a number of high-end amenities, such as boutique hotel, an outdoor amphitheater, an event barn, and a gourmet restaurant; in addition, residents will also be treated to perpetual breathtaking views of the Spring Mountains and surrounding Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, with developer Joel Laub stating that “Nothing will ever be built around this property.”

Water lines and fire hydrants have already been installed in the community, and additional infrastructure work is underway; actual construction of the community’s commercial aspects is slated to begin by the end of 2022, although that estimate is not set in stone.

“Show homes” are currently in the design process by luxury homebuilder Blue Heron and architecture firm Backen & Backen.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Located in Downtown Henderson, The Pass Casino – formerly known as the Eldorado, until it was sold in late 2020 – has announced plans to add onto the establishment by building a six-story Atwell Suites-branded hotel on the property.

Developer Joe DeSimone, who renovated and renamed the Eldorado upon its purchase for an undisclosed price, has filed plans with the city of Henderson to construct the approximately $20 million hotel, which is slated to have 90 rooms. While a specific date has not yet been decided for the project’s groundbreaking, it is anticipated to take place in either September or October, reports say.

The Atwell Suites hotel – a brand of British-owned IHG Hotels & Resorts – is expected to offer a variety of amenities for guests, such as a pool and wine bar; however, construction of a dedicated parking garage is not necessary, DeSimone notes, since The Pass itself already possesses one that will be adequate enough to serve the needs of the hotel as well.

DeSimone, founder and owner of First Federal Realty DeSimone, said that building a hotel for The Pass is a great business move, as the casino’s location at 140 Water Street is centrally located in an up-and-coming area.

Recently, the once quiet Water Street has seen a large increase in foot traffic as breweries, restaurants, an ice rink, and other entertainment options have been added in recent years. DeSimone noted that The Pass has benefited from the street’s current upward trajectory – calling recent business “very strong” – and said that part of his reasoning for adding the hotel is due to the fact that the area is currently without any significant hotel competition.

The nearest large-scale hotel to The Pass’ location – the Fiesta Henderson – has yet to reopen after having shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has not made any announcements regarding its future.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – As short-term rentals – such as Airbnb and Vrbo – finally approach a state of legality in Clark County as of July 1, lawmakers are signifying that they are in favor of establishing a lottery system for when it comes to issuing the over 2,800 licenses to individuals and companies that are looking to get involved in the local house-sharing industry.

The Clark County County Commission is not only looking to find an ideal method to address the huge number of house-sharing rental applications they will receive, but also how to crack down on the even larger number of illegal short-term rentals that are clandestinely operating within the county’s jurisdiction; current estimates put the number between 6,000 to 12,000 properties.

In 2021, Assembly Bill 363 – sponsored by Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen – was voted into law, and decreed that as of July 1, 2022, short-term rentals would begin to be legal in Clark County; furthermore, the county would also be tasked with regulating the new industry within its borders, and lawmakers have been working ever since to craft ordinances for that purpose.

Recently, Commissioners agreed on several possible regulations for short-term rentals, including capping licenses to one percent of all homes; adopting a 1,000-foot distance requirement between rentals; limiting licenses to one per homeowner or company; and enacting an application cost of at least $1,000.

As for tackling violations, lawmakers seemed to favor fines up to $1,000 per violation for legal short-term rentals, and fines of up to $10,000 per violation for ones that are operating illegally.

However, details are still in flux and have yet to be cemented amid various concerns that officials do not possess the significant backing in terms of finances or manpower that will allow them to enforce the new ordnances, both among legal and illegal short-term rentals alike. Renters finding ways to skirt around the laws – such as creating multiple LLCs – are a potential issue as well.

A recent survey indicated that the majority of Clark County’s residents are not in favor of short-term rentals becoming legal; those who want to provide input to the county’s plans can email them to STRComment@ClarkCountyNV.gov.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Just over three years after originally purchasing it, the owners of a prominent luxury Las Vegas apartment complex have turned around and sold the property off for a very impressive return on their initial investment.

It was announced this week by broker Cushman & Wakefield that the 220-unit South Beach was bought from Griffin Capital Company by San Diego real estate firm Logan Capital Advisors for $97.5 million. Griffin had originally purchased the complex in 2018 for $62 million, with this week’s sale representing a tidy profit of $30.5 million.

The $97.5 million sale price comes to approximately $443,182 per unit, which is twice what the average was on the market during 2021; when Griffin purchased the property in 2018, the per-unit price also was double that of the market average at the time at $281,818.

Upon the announcement of the purchase, seller Logan Capital issued a statement, touting South Beach’s “unmatched amenity package” and “excellent location” while cementing the high-end apartment complex as a leader in Las Vegas amongst “discerning lifestyle renters.”

Griffin also put out a statement, noting that originally they had intended to hold onto South Beach for the foreseeable future, but the firm was presented with an “opportunity to realize outsized returns” and due to that, they decided to sell “earlier than anticipated, and with a great result.”

Located at 8920 West Russell Road, South Beach offers numerous upper-crust amenities for tenants, including poolside cabanas, a huge outdoor TV, an outdoor gym, a sand volleyball court, a sports field, a Zen garden, fitness studios, a massage and treatment room, steam and sauna rooms, and a poker room.

Apartment sales in Las Vegas have been heating up recently amid the waning days of the COVID-19, whereas they had displayed a distinct drop in changing hands while the pandemic was at its peak; in 2021, 193 complexes were sold in the region, compared with just 91 in 2020.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Recently, a Canadian real estate developer preformed a ceremonial groundbreaking on an upcoming Las Vegas-based warehouse project that, upon completion, will come in at over 250,000 square feet in size.

Ryan Beedie, who regularly travels to and spends time in Vegas – estimates that he’s been to the city as many as 200 times and counting – which influenced his decision to develop his very first-ever U.S. based project there, he said.

Last Monday, Beedie broke ground on the upcoming Pioneer Business Center, a two-building warehouse complex in the southwest valley that, upon completion which is expected by the end of 2022, will offer 261,751 square-feet of space.

Despite this being his very first construction project in Vegas, Beedie is no stranger to the local real estate marketplace, already boasting the ownership of industrial buildings and condominium towers in the northern region of the city.

Once Pioneer Business Center is completed and ready to open for business, Beedie notes he plans on selling the warehouse’s 26 units to individual buyers, as opposed to the more common practice of leasing them to tenants or selling the complex to a new landlord.

Beedie referred to this plan as his “niche in the market,” stating that it should appeal to companies put off by steadily rising rental rates in Southern Nevada; the developer has already lined up buyers for six units and counting, he said.

What should prove to be especially appealing about Beedie’s plan to sell space instead of renting it out is that for-sale warehouse space normally targets companies seeking in excess of 50,000 square feet. In contrast, Beedie will be offering smaller spaces for sale, which should interest smaller companies that don’t require the extra space; units in Pioneer Business Center, just north of Sunset Road between Tenaya Way and Buffalo Drive, will range in size from 7,791 to 13,186 square feet.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Las Vegas Realtors Association President Brandon Roberts is predicting that, as Southern Nevada’s home prices continue to break record after record – causing intense affordability concerns – the market will eventually right itself and stabilize, noting that the current situation is “not sustainable” long-term as it is.

In February 2022, the median price of existing single-family homes in Las Vegas reached a new record – $450,000 – which itself leapfrogged the previous record just the month before. Overall, the median price was just $355,000, with the new record representing a whopping 26.8 percent year-over-year increase and over three times the $118,000 existing homes were fetching in January 2012 during the recession.

It’s easy to see how much the intense housing demand is driving home prices up in the region; in 2021, there were 38,601 home sales in Vegas, and over 50,000 when townhouses and condominiums are added into the equation. However, this represents a situation that Roberts says can’t last.

“Local home prices can’t keep going up this fast, forever. The increases we’ve been seeing in the last year or so are just not sustainable,” he said. “It remains to be seen how much higher these prices can go and when we might start to see the market stabilize, as many national experts have been predicting. Either way, I seriously doubt you’ll see home prices more than triple again in a single decade.”

Given the record-setting nature of the real estate industry in 2021, Roberts said that he expects this trend to continue into 2022 but that prices and demand will start to level off as interest rates on home loans begin to slowly rise from the historic lows they hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That affects people’s buying power, which could affect the demand on some of the properties,” Roberts said. “I do think we will stay strong because we have low inventory, and we will continue to see that. As soon as they are coming on the market, they’re selling. We’re in a shortage of housing, I don’t think builders could build it fast enough because of supply, labor and permits. I think we will see increases (in prices) but not at the level we saw last year.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The defunct Terrible’s Hotel & Casino, which has been closed and sitting unused for two years, will be demolished and the property used to construct a large-scale industrial park, according to an announcement by a Reno developer.

Terrible’s, which originally opened in 1987 and closed for good in 2020, was owned by the Herbst family – operators of the Terrible Herbst gas station chain – and is located about 25 miles south of Downtown Las Vegas.

Public records show that on February 24, Tolles Development Company closed on a $44.7 million deal with the Herbst family for the sale of the approximately 142.3 acres of real estate in Jean Nevada off Interstate 15 that Terrible’s Hotel & Casino sits upon.

Tolles partner Cory Hunt noted that the location is ideal for an industrial park, since truckers delivering goods from Southern California could drop off their wares and be home in what would amount to a one-day round trip, as opposed to having to travel much further into Nevada. In addition, the location already has utility service in-place due to the hotel’s presence.

Hunt said plans are in-place to develop the property into a 1.9 million-square-foot warehouse and distribution complex, with a groundbreaking possibly planned for 2023; from there, it is estimated that the industrial park would take anywhere from three to five years to construct. Clark County commissioners approved plans for the project last month.

The last construction phase of the project will involve the current Terrible’s Hotel & Casino building itself, although it is not currently yet known how the structure will be demolished. However, Hunt facetiously said that if they decide to implode it, it would be done in over-the-top “Vegas style” and that he would be happy to allow a filmmaker to record the explosion for a movie to “help us celebrate blowing it up.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – “Fremont9,” a ritzy apartment complex located in Las Vegas’ downtown area which constriction was funded by late entrepreneur and former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, has been sold for $80 million and will soon be christened with a new name.

The Calida Group, an apartment developer based in Las Vegas, confirmed that they purchased the 232-unit Fremont9 complex – which was 90.5 percent occupied on the day the deal went down – and news of the sale already has the property “trending upwards,” according to Calida co-founder Doug Eisner.

Fremont9 – which is located at 901 Fremont Street at the corner of Fremont and Ninth – will be officially rebranded within the next few months as “Ely on Fremont,” Eisner revealed.

When it originally opened in 2018, Fremont9 was the first new, large-scale apartment complex on Fremont Street in a number of years, and is part of a development trend concentrating on Southern Nevada urban-area rental facilities to address housing demand.

The sales price of Fremont9 equates to approximately $344,828 per apartment unit; in 2021, the average per-unit sales price of apartment buildings in the region was $215,151.

Eisner noted that part of the attraction to the purchase of Fremont9 was younger tenants who are “hyper-social” and are looking for apartments close to the many entertainment and restaurants options afforded by the Las Vegas Strip.

During the worst of COVID-19, renters tended to favor suburban rental properties in order to avoid densely-populated areas, but as the pandemic wanes, more and more people are once again looking for rentals amid the hustle and bustle of the city, Eisner said.

The five-story Fremont9 offers numerous amenities for tenants, including a clubroom lounge with billiards, outdoor courtyards with bocce ball and fire pits, a yoga and spin studio, a media lounge and more; in addition, Eisner said that there is also unrented ground-floor retail space that is being converted into live-work units.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A lavish Las Vegas mansion that was once rented as a home for a whopping $50,000 a month 15 years ago by the late and controversial “King of Pop” Michael Jackson has been listed for sale on the market.

The 17,461-square-foot Las Vegas estate – surrounded by a 10-foot-high wall – is located in the western Las Vegas Valley, and currently has an asking price of $9.5 million.

Luxury real estate brokerage The Agency announced Friday that a 17,461-square-foot mansion in western Las Vegas, home to the King of Pop 15 years ago, is on the market for $9.5 million. Sellers Dong Xue and his wife Jeanette Zhou – both big fans of Jackson – bought the home in 2010 for $3.1 million.

2785 SOUTH MONTE CRISTO WAY, LAS VEGAS – $9,500,000.00

The mansion – which Jackson rented for a year in 2006 after spending time in the Middle East and Ireland – is located on an acre of land 15 minutes from The Las Vegas Strip at 2785 South Monte Cristo Way. It features eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, and a Roman-style interior, an indoor fountain, custom chandeliers, a home theater, a security room, marble flooring and an orchestra loft overlooking a grand ballroom.

Jackson – whose sisters and parents lived in the Southern Nevada region at the time he rented the home – had faced allegations of sexual abuse for a number of years, and some have speculated that he had rented the compound in order to have privacy from paparazzi, which are rare in Las Vegas.

Some of Jackson’s personal furniture – including a dining table and a sofa – remained in the house when Xue and Zhou purchased it; the couple, previously California residents, had been using the mansion as their primary residence for over ten years.

The property was listed on the market Thursday, March 3.

Feature photo: Jackson attending The 4th Annual Roger Neal Oscar Viewing Dinner-Icon Awards and After Party at The Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA on February 24th, 2019 File photo: Eugene Powers, Shutter Stock, licensed.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Ever-increasing home prices in Las Vegas are now outstripping the current average in the United States, according to a recent Case-Shiller report, with the end of 2021 setting the stage for what to expect in 2022.

House values in Southern Nevada in December 2021 had shockingly jumped 25.5 percent from the same period of time in 2020; this runs in contrast with the 18.8 percent price climb on a national basis, according to reports. Vegas home prices have been accelerating past the national average now for the past seven months in a row.

Arizona, specifically Phoenix, is also a region where home prices have been rising fastest over the course of the past year, blasting past the national average to an even greater degree than Vegas. As of press time, home prices in Phoenix have jumped a whopping 32.5 percent year-over-year, illustrating the exuberant degree that home prices have raised overall in the United States during the past 365 days, despite – or perhaps because of – the impact of the pandemic.

Among the 20 markets covered by S&P Dow Jones, home prices are at an all-time high despite high unemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic; this factor has been mitigated by rock-bottom interest rates on home loans that have allowed buyers to maximize their budgets.

Rising home costs, both in Las Vegas and nationwide, have also been driven by limited inventory and “persistent demand,” real estate experts say.

However, of the 15 markets tracked by the Case-Shiller report, Southern Nevada has been proven to be an especially popular place for people to move to due to its low cost of living when compared to other regions with higher tax brackets and overall lower – for the time being – home prices.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Addressing concerns over cost-of-living increases in Southern Nevada in recent years, a developer has begun construction on an affordable housing project targeting Las Vegas senior citizens in the east section of the valley, a vulnerable population that is often neglected when it comes to housing options in their price range.

According to the Neighborhood Housing Services of Southern Nevada (NHSSN), ground was broken on “The Golden Rule Senior Apartments” on Eastern Avenue on Thursday of last week, which – once completed – will provide 60 rental units for very low-to-moderate-income seniors.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition has stated over the course of the last several years that the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise metropolitan area has offered the lowest amount of housing options for renters with limited means, with only 16 out of every 100 homes built catering to those in lower income brackets, reports say.

The Golden Rule apartment complex – located at 820 N. Eastern Avenue – is expected to be completed by February 2023, according to Clark County Commissioner William McCurdy, who said that Las Vegas needs to address the housing needs of its senior population.

“Too many of our seniors are struggling as rents and the cost of living in Las Vegas increase,” he said. “I’m very happy that we were able to contribute financially toward the completion of this project, which will house those with little income and provide needed social support for these residents.”

The project is being funded with $600,000 in Account for Affordable Housing Trust funds (AAHTF), $828,000 in National Housing Trust Funds from the State of Nevada (NHTF), $675,000 in the form of a permanent loan from Chase Bank, $1.9 million from the City of Las Vegas, and $12.3 million from private investor Boston Financial.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.