Category Archive : Economy

LAS VEGAS, NV – The cost of housing in the United States is a hot button topic leading up to the presidential election in November, and a new study shows that the residents in a growing number of states across the nation are becoming “cost burdened” by the percentage of their income that they have to devote to paying their monthly rent and utilities, with Nevada and Arizona leading the pack in terms of this demographic.

“Cost burdened” is a designation for individuals or families who are paying over 30 percent of their income on rent each month; in 2019, there were seven states where a majority of tenants were in this situation. However, fast-forward to 2023, and that number of states is now at a shocking 21, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with approximately 22 million renters nationwide now having to devote a substantial amount of their take-home pay to ballooning housing costs.

Having to allocate over 30 percent of their income to rent and utilities may leave tenants with difficulty in paying for other necessary goods and services, including medical care, transportation, clothing, and food, HUD says.

The three states that have recorded the largest increases in the percentage of cost burdened renters are Arizona, which jumped from 46.5 percent to 54 percent; Nevada, from 51.1 percent to 57.4 percent; and Georgia, from 48.8 percent to 53.7 percent. Coincidentally, all three are presidential swing states, and both candidates – Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris – are sure to make addressing the affordable housing crisis a focus during their campaigning there.

According to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Las Vegas area itself had the largest number of cost burdened renters in the entire state at 58.3 percent, beating out New York City (52.6 percent) and San Francisco (48.9 percent).

Other states that saw large increases in their cost burdened populations include Florida (55.9 percent to 61.7 percent) and Maine (44 percent to 49.1 percent).

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 per a newly-released report by a construction industry analytics firm, Millennials are slowly being priced out of the Las Vegas housing market, with the group being ranked as one of the lowest in terms of home buying not only in Southern Nevada, but nationwide as well.

Construction Coverage notes that out of the 55 largest metropolitan area they examined, Millennials – defined as the generation born between 1981 and 1996 – were responsible for buying just 48.4 percent of the single-family homes in Las Vegas in 2023. Tucson, Arizona was the only city ranking lower than Vegas in this regard at 45.2 percent, while San Jose, California was the city with the highest percentage of Millennials home-buyers at 73.2 percent.

According to the author of Construction Coverage’s report, Jonathan Jones – a senior researcher for the firm – Millennials residing in the Las Vegas Valley were taking out mortgages in 2023 with the highest loan-to-value ratios of any age group. In addition, given the fact that an individual’s average peak earning and home-buying years are their mid-30s – the current age of the average Millennial – they are not purchasing residences at nearly the same level when compared to other demographics.

Recently, the cost of homeownership has skyrocketed in large part due to an adverse combination of high interest rates and scarce inventory, leaving millennials with a daunting homeownership outlook,” Jones said.

The median loan amount for Millennials purchasing a home in the Las Vegas Valley in 2023 was $385,000; those loans had an 86.2 percent median loan-to-value ratio, which is higher than for younger demographics. When looking at the overall rankings state-by-state, Nevada had the fifth-lowest Millennial home buying rate at 48.1 percent – Delaware was the lowest at 40.6 percent – whereas Massachusetts had the most at 64.2 percent.

Despite this, and an overall decline in home buying across the country, millennials still accounted for the majority of the nation’s home purchase loans in 2023 (56.9 percent),” Jones said. “However, rates vary by location. Researchers ranked metros by the millennial share of conventional home purchase loans originated in 2023.”

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 – According to new history data released by industry group Las Vegas Realtors (LVR) illustrating how inflation has made home ownership more costly in recent years, in 1997 the median price of an existing single-family home in Southern Nevada was $124,000, which would be the equivalent of $246,829 in today’s current market.

However, clearly showing how times have changed, the actual median price of a single-family home in Las Vegas as of July 2024 was, in reality, $480,000, which represents a 6.7 percent jump from July 2023, when that amount was $450,000.

July 2024’s median home price also shows that home values in the Las Vegas Valley are slowly but surely creeping back up to potentially meet – and perhaps even exceed – the all-time record of $482,000, which was originally set in May 2022.

Other tidbits from the data released by LVR provide additional insight into how home values have appreciated with greater and greater speed in Southern Nevada over the years- the median price in July 2000 was $140,000, but by April 2004, it had increased to $252,500.

And despite the Great Recession in the mid-2000s essentially knocking home prices in Vegas back to levels not seen since before 2001, LVR’s historical data indicates that, since 2000, home prices in the region overall have more than tripled.

One of the main factors contributing to the rapidly rising value of homes in Vegas is the fact that there is a limit currently to how much public land there is for developers to construct upon.

In fact, research firm Applied Analysis notes that in as soon as eight years, the valley could exhaust its supply unless the Bureau of Land Management – a federal agency that controls much of the land in Nevada – speeds up the process of releasing more land for housing development, a process that they have been heavily criticized for due to their lack of urgency in doing so thus far.

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 – According to a new report released by residential real estate brokerage and mortgage origination services company Redfin, the Las Vegas Valley has seen the number of homes purchased by investors increase year-over-year by the largest margin in the entire nation.

In the second quarter of 2024, purchases made by investors – in this case, defied by Redfin as a “company” – jumped a whopping 27 percent when compared to the same period of time one year prior, the most out of any area in the United States. These numbers tied the valley with only one other city in the country- San Jose, California, which saw the same exact percentage of homes gobbled up by investors.

About 14 percent of all residential single-family homes in the Las Vegas Valley are now owned by investors representing corporations, according to a study released by the Lied Center for Real Estate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). These numbers go up even further when North Las Vegas is focused upon, with an astonishing 25 percent of all homes there currently in the hands of out-of-state – and typically Wall Street-backed – investors.

Chen Zhao, a lead Redfin Economics Research analyst, noted that the Las Vegas Valley has a wide variety of factors that make it uniquely attractive to companies seeking to sink their investment dollars into real estate, buying large numbers of homes to then rent out to both locals and tourists.

Investors could be attracted to Las Vegas because rents there are increasing more than the national median,” she said. “In addition, Las Vegas is a tourist destination so short-term rentals are another reason for investors to want to buy there.”

In addition, in Q2 2024 the city of Las Vegas itself has the largest number of homes bought by investors – 22.3 percent – with only Miami, Florida ranking higher in that regard, as 28.5 percent.

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 – According to a new report released by a Las Vegas-based real estate industry group, the prices of homes in Southern Nevada increased in July – continuing their recent upward trajectory – whereas the cost of condominiums and townhomes reached an all-time record high.

Las Vegas Realtors notes that the median price of an existing single-family home in Las Vegas last month was $480,000, which represents a 1.05 percent increase over June, when that amount was $475,000. It’s also a 6.7 percent jump over July 2023’s median price of $450,000, with current prices slowly crawling to meet – and possibly exceed, eventually – the all-time record high of $482,000, which was reached in May 2022.

Meanwhile, the median price for condominiums and townhomes broke the local Las Vegas record, reaching a new all-time high of $296,000; the previous record, originally set in May of this year and subsequently carried over into June, was $295,000.

Las Vegas Realtors President Merri Perry said that the fact that the mortgage industry in the United States is still charging high interest rates on home loans appears not to have deterred sellers in Southern Nevada – and across the country – from continuing to raise their prices on homes.

It looks like prices for homes here in Southern Nevada will soon follow what’s already occurred with condos and townhomes, which have been at record levels since May,” Perry said. “One bright spot for home buyers in this month’s report is that we continue to see more homes hitting the market and available for sale.”

At the end of July, there were 4,634 single-family homes listed in Vegas without any offers, which is a 31.5 percent increase year-over-year. In addition, there were 1,481 condos and townhomes listed without an offer, a 70 percent jump from July 2023.

A combined total of 2,764 existing homes, condos, and townhomes were sold in Las Vegas by the end of July, an increase of 5 percent for homes and 1.5 percent for condos in townhomes year-over-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 – While visiting the city of Las Vegas on Tuesday’s campaign trail, President Biden announced new actions on the part of his administration to address rising home and rent prices and the construction of more affordable housing options, both in Nevada and in the United States as a whole.

While in Vegas, the announced actions included calling on Congress to pass proposed legislation that would place a 5 percent cap on rent increases on the part of corporate landlords who own more than 50 units, with a failure to comply resulting in the potential loss of federal tax breaks.

Rent is too high and buying a home is out of reach for too many working families and young Americans, after decades of failure to build enough homes,” Biden said in a White House statement released prior to his speaking engagement at the NAACP convention on Tuesday. “I’m determined to turn that around. Today, I’m sending a clear message to corporate landlords: If you raise rents more than 5% on existing units, you should lose valuable tax breaks.”

According to government watchdog Accountable.US, the cost of rent has increased 31.4 percent nationwide since 2019, outstripping the average worker’s wage growth during that period of 23 percent; this, as claimed by the White House, is causing many Americans to struggle with being able to afford housing.

In addition, the President noted that his admin’s actions also include ongoing efforts to release more public land in Nevada in order to facilitate the construction of more affordable housing, as well as to add to the housing stock in pre-existing neighborhoods in the state.

Currently, the federal government owns 88 percent of the land in Clark County along, with over half of that property – 2.9 million acres – managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The failure to release parts of that land for development has contributed to the current housing crisis being experienced in Southern Nevada, experts say.

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 – If you’re interested in buying a house in Las Vegas and are starting from scratch when it comes to saving for a down payment, a new study indicates that it could take over 17 years for the average person to accumulate enough dough to ensure they have an affordable monthly mortgage payment, given the conditions of the 2024 housing market.

According to Zillow, the median household income in the Las Vegas Valley is $77,502, and the average home there is worth $427,509; in order to be able to “comfortably” afford a monthly mortgage payment, the average family would need to have a down payment of $198,306.

With that in mind, if an average household were to sock away 10 percent of their income each and every month, it would take them 17.6 years to save that amount. That period of time represents a decrease from its peak – which was 20 years of saving in 2022 – and an increase of 3.3 percent from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zillow senior economist Orphe Divounguy noted that the current issues that many families are facing when it comes to the affordability of housing is forcing them to remain as renters for the time being, although relief may be coming in the form of an expected home value drop by as much as 1.2 percent over the next 12 months.

(This) reflects a market where more listings are coming onto the market, and staying there for longer, than previously anticipated,” he said. “Many homeowners are breaking free of rate lock, cashing in on massive appreciation of their property, and moving on with their lives. Meanwhile, would-be buyers are struggling with monthly mortgage costs that have more than doubled since pre-pandemic times.”

This situation is exasperated in Las Vegas, Divounguy said, due to the fact that the local real estate market remains much more competitive when compared to much of the nation.

Home value appreciation (in Las Vegas) has been stronger than the national average over the last year, partly because housing demand has kept up with the increase in supply,” he said. “While new listings are now up 23 percent compared to a year ago, total for sale inventory is just 3.5 percent higher than in May 2023. Although momentum has shifted somewhat, Las Vegas remains in a bigger hole than the nation in terms of available inventory, compared to normal, pre-pandemic 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 – According to a new report released by a Sothern Nevada real estate industry group, the prices of homes in Las Vegas continued to increase during the month of June, while the inventory of residences being put on the market also showed growth.

Las Vegas Realtors noted that the median sale price for an existing single-family home in the Las Vegas Valley was $475,000 in June, which was a $2,000 jump from May, when that price was $473,000. It also represented a year-over-year increase of 7.7 percent over June 2023’s price of $440,990.

And when it came to condominiums and townhomes, in June the median price for these types of residences was $295,000, the same price that it was in May and a 7.3 percent increase year-over-year.

At the end of June, there were 4,114 single-family homes listed for sale without any offers, a small bump from May’s 3,869 home availability but a jump of 11.8 percent from the same period of time one year prior. In addition, there were 1,367 condos and townhomes on the market without offers at the end of June, an increase from May’s availability of 1,324 and a whopping 47 percent increase from June 2023.

Las Vegas Realtors President Merri Perry noted that the cost of housing in Las Vegas continues to rise despite the fact that home mortgage interest rates remain at historically high levels.

Fortunately, our local housing market has been outperforming most of the country in a few key ways,” said Perry. “For example, home sales have been down nationally and approaching some of the lowest levels on record. Here in Southern Nevada, we’ve been selling more homes this year than we did last year. And unlike much of the nation, homes here have actually been selling faster than they were at the same time last year. At the same time, we’re seeing more homes available for sale, which is good news.”

In June, the combined total of homes, condos and townhomes sold was 2,698.

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 – They’re not quite there yet, but according to a new report released by Las Vegas Realtors (LVR), the prices of homes in the Las Vegas Valley this past May continued to inch up to their all-time high point, illustrating the fact that demand is still exceeding supply in Southern Nevada.

LVR’s report, which acquires its data from Multiple Listing Services, noted that during May the median sale price for an existing, single-family home in Las Vegas was $473,000, representing a 7 percent jump year-over-year and moving that number ever closer to the all-time record high achieved in the valley, which was $482,000 during May 2022.

The MLS showed that there were 3869 homes for sale in the valley without any offer at the end of May, which is a 6.1 percent increase year-over-year. In addition, compared to one year prior, new listings in Las Vegas surged 19.9 percent in May, an 8.7 percent increase from the previous month.

LVR President Merri Perry Issued a statement on this development, saying that “although the demand for housing here in Southern Nevada continues to outpace our supply, increased sales and inventory are positive signs for consumers and for our members.”

Meanwhile, the median sales price for brand new homes listed for sale in the valley reached $500,000 in May, which represents a 5.3 percent jump from the same period of time one year ago; while high, this number nonetheless falls below the all-time record for new home listings in the region, which was $525,000 in May 2022.

However, it remains to be seen how much longer home prices continue to swell in Las Vegas, given the growing national trend of lowering housing costs in several major markets – including Austin, San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas, and Portland, Oregon – as buyers back off in response to high home prices and mortgage rates.

It is expected that this phenomenon will spread to other parts of the country as well as the situation continues, eventually driving home prices down again, says real estate company Redfin in a recent report.

“Nationwide, prices rose 4.4 percent from a year earlier to an all-time high during the four weeks ending June 2,” report said. “But there are early indicators that national price growth could soften soon: 6.4 percent of U.S. home sellers cut their asking price, on average, the highest share since November 2022. And the typical active listing has been on the market for 46 days, up 2.3 percent year over year – the biggest increase in nine months, suggesting home listings are growing stale faster than they were a year ago.”

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 – According to a new report released by investment management company Colliers, the southwest valley is home to Las Vegas residents earning the highest median household income within the region.

As per its apartment market report for the first quarter of 2024, Colliers notes that the southwest valley’s median income was $86,682, with that number surpassing the median income in Henderson – the previous number one in that category – which was $86,682. In contrast, in the first quarter of 2023, Henderson’s median income was $92,356, whereas that number was $90,531 in the southwest valley.

Colliers International’s Executive Vice President for Multifamily Investment Sales, Jeffrey Swinger, said in the report that the southwestern valley – which is made up mainly by the up-and-coming township of Enterprise – is at the moment very clearly attracting workers and families in higher income brackets who are purchasing homes in the region, although it remains to be seen if this will remain to be the case going forward.

It’s kind of a hodgepodge to be honest. It’s not a master plan, so it’s kind of a free-for-all, and over the past few years it’s become very attractive because it has the land,” Swinger said. “Places like Green Valley and such, they’re all built out now. Summerlin is kind of a different animal, and then if you look at the Beltway and (the southwest valley’s) proximity to the Strip and the jobs, that’s why all the development has taken off there.”

Enterprise is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the entire nation, with a plethora of residential and commercial development currently underway. Reports indicate that the unincorporated township is growing at double the rate as the rest of the Las Vegas Valley, expanding by 60 percent between the years of 2010 and 2023 – as opposed to 20 percent for the rest of the valley – and boasted 245,243 residents by the end of 2023.

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.

CHICAGO, IL – In a historic settlement that will completely change the current homebuying and selling business model, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on Friday entered into a settlement in a series of antitrust lawsuits brought against the organization by groups of home sellers by agreeing to pay $418 million in damages and eliminating commission rules, effectively doing away with the 6 percent industry standard.

The agreement to abolish the 6 percent commission standard on the part of NAR – which represents over 1 million Realtors – is expected to significantly reduce the costs associated with buying and selling homes, with experts predicting that commissions are expected to fall anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent.

Up until Friday’s agreement, sellers paid both their broker and their buyer’s broker during a home sale, which some critics have said has artificially driven housing prices higher. Previously, sellers could pay more than $25,000 in brokerage fees upon the sale of the average-priced U.S. home, which is currently $417,000; those costs are then passed on to the buyer, which in turn leads to higher home prices.

A new set of rules will also be put into place, including prohibiting the amount of compensation an agent will receive from being included on listings posted on multiple listing services (MLS), which some have claimed leads to brokers pushing pricier homes on their customers; previously, NAR had required agents to post their fees on MLS listings.

In addition, brokers are no longer required to subscribe to MLS where properties are given a wide viewing in a local markets, and buyer’s brokers will now be required to enter into written agreements with their buyers.

The home sellers who had sued NAR argued that the cost of the buyer’s agent’s commission should be paid by the buyer who received the service, not by the seller, and that buyers should be able to negotiate the fee with their agent and that sellers should not be responsible for paying it.

In November, a Missouri federal jury ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against NAR and two other brokerages for a total of $1.8 billion in damages for conspiring to keep agent commissions artificially high; because the lawsuit was an antitrust case, NAR would potentially have had to pay triple damages in the amount of $5.4 billion.

While the other two brokerage is settled, NAR initially vowed to appeal the judgment before finally agreeing to the settlement on Friday, which was announced by NAR interim CEO Nykia Wright in a statement.

NAR has worked hard for years to resolve this litigation in a manner that benefits our members and American consumers,” she said. “It has always been our goal to preserve consumer choice and protect our members to the greatest extent possible. This settlement achieves both of those goals.”

News of the settlement caused shares of real estate firms Zillow and Compass to plummet over 13 percent; Zillow issued a statement saying any significant change to the fee structure could have an industry-wide negative impact, including less business for real estate platforms.

If agent commissions are meaningfully impacted, it could reduce the marketing budgets of real estate partners or reduce the number of real estate partners participating in the industry, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations,” the firm said.

However, Robert Braun – a partner in Cohen Milstein’s antitrust practice that represented the homesellers in the lawsuit – claimed that Friday’s settlement will lead to a more competitive and fair real estate market.

For far too long, home sellers have faced a system recognized by many as blatantly unfair,” he said. “This class action and settlement provides justice for our clients and will require important changes that help future home sellers.”

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 – In the Las Vegas Valley a tiny home is generating big demand from desperate Las Vegas renters on a budget, with its landlord receiving scores of inquiries from prospective tenants, a situation he said he was not expecting, according to Fox 5 Las Vegas.

The 160-square-foot residence is listed for just $950 a month – half the average rent in the valley, which is currently $1,745 – and is located on the landlord’s own property; he said he built it himself for just $22,000, and did so as a way to help out people during the ongoing economic downturn that the country has been experiencing.

I’ve literally [had] 113 and counting people. [My phone] keeps ringing on wanting to rent it,” the landlord said, who asked to remain anonymous when speaking to local media. “It’s definitely in people’s heart to want to save some money right now. This economy’s tough, and just doing my share on trying to help someone out.”

This isn’t the first time that this generous landlord has put such an offering on the market, having built dozens of other small homes that he rents out. In 2021, the Nevada State Legislature passed a law that requires cities whose populations are higher than 150,000 to create zoning laws for tiny homes, with compliance required by 2024.

The $950 rent includes all utilities and services, including water, electricity, internet, garbage removal, and plumbing. The interior boasts a small pull-down table for dining, a kitchen with a cooktop stove, a bathroom, a washer and dryer combo, and a bedroom located in an upper loft overlooking the main floor.

In addition, the tenant that snags this property will also enjoy a small backyard space, including a garden and a table and chair.

The landlord noted the interested parties run the gamut from a family of four to numerous single parents with children and pets. But the one uniting factor that all of the prospective tenants share is a need for affordable housing, and they are apparently willing to sacrifice some living space in order to acquire it.

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.