Market Conditions
Home Sales Bleak
By Al Tamura, Broker

Home sales figures are mixed said Larry Murphy at the quarterly Crystal Ball seminar.  Basically, the bottom line is:

1.  Sales are down

2.  Prices are mixed

3.  Inventory is up.

New home sales are down 36% from the previous quarter and down 44% from last year.  Prices are down 4% from last quarter and up 4% from last year.

Existing home sales are down 1% from the previous quarter and down 21% from last year.

New home prices are are mixed and are currently down 4% from the previous quarter and up 4% from last year.

Existing home prices are are also mixed, down 2% from last quarter and up 1% from last year.

Inventory of houses is 24,000 resale homes on MLS and that equates to a 13 month supply of homes.

Some interesting quotes were:

"Despite the fact that sales are down, prices are pretty stable" says Larry Murphy.

"It's good for buyers.  It's going to improve affordability a little bit" said John Restrepo of Restrepo consulting Group.

Steve Bottfeld of Marketing Solutions made his prediction "We're at the bottom of the real estate cycle,  We goup from here, starting in May!"  Bottfled also mentioned that in-migration is still about 6,000/month, McCarran Airport is setting record numbers of flights, jobs are strong, personal income is strong and there appears to be about $25 billion invested into the Strip this year.