Las Vegas is a factory town, perhaps the last factory town in the country. The industry is the resort complex with the associated gambling, shopping, entertainment and dinning. It depends on patrons having discretionary income. It also depends on a lack of social distancing. Social distancing is fatal to this economy. The local real estate market will be heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The best I can do at this point is give you an update on current market activity. By that I mean activity since April 1. March figures are irrelevant at this point. As good as they were, they generally reflect sales made 30 days or more prior to the date of closing escrow.
Since April 1, overall, sales have been sluggish, but not catastrophically so. I am looking at homes going into escrow during this period. Projecting the rate of sale over the month, we have around a 5 month inventory of homes. (The March figure was a 2.5 month inventory ). When I look at certain subsets of the market the figures are worse. With age restricted homes we have right now around an 8 month supply of homes at the present rate of sale. With high-rise properties we have a 10 month supply.
New home sale figures are also down. Week ending March 8 reflected 329 net sales, sales minus cancellations. Week ending March 29 reflected 92 net sales. These are the latest figures I have.
Hotel/condos will probably be the hardest hit in the short run. They heavily depend on rental income. High-rise properties will also, I expect, take a hit, in that they are largely second homes. The age restricted market will likely also suffer, as this age demographic is particularly vulnerable to the virus. This is pure speculation, as the future of the pandemic is unknown.
I will try to give regular updates with respect to how this market is responding the Covid-19 pandemic.
