CARPE DIEM: Signs of a Real Estate Recovery in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Review-Journal -- "Home prices rose for the third straight month in April and the inventory of listings shrank to a five-week supply, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Monday. The median price for 3,185 single-family houses sold in April was $127,900, up 4 percent from the previous month and up 2.3 percent from April 2011.

It is the first time prices have increased on a year-over-year basis since August 2010, said Kolleen Kelley, president of the Realtors association. "Of course, this has a lot to do with our shrinking housing inventory," she said. "Based on current demand, our housing supply is down to about four to six weeks." Total inventory of homes on the Multiple Listing Service decreased 20.3 percent from a year ago to 17,884 in April, while only 4,162 units are available without pending or contingent offers, down 63.4 percent from a year ago.

Housing inventory already was tightening throughout 2011, and it began to contract more rapidly when Assembly Bill 284 - known as the robo-signing law - took effect in October. It requires lenders to prove they have all the necessary documents in place before proceeding with a foreclosure. Notices of default, which begin the foreclosure process, have plummeted from about 3,000 a month to a few hundred, and the number of bank-owned homes on the market has dwindled to about 800.

Even with fewer houses to sell, existing home sales remain ahead of the record pace set in 2011, when Realtors sold 48,186 houses in Southern Nevada. April sales were up 3.3 percent from the same month a year ago."

HT: Gary Lyle

norman reedus norman reedus sears office max office max cyber monday deals 2011 cyber monday deals 2011