Viva Las Vegas

Talk about a hot market!

April's statistics from Las Vegas defy description, but Larry Murphy of Sales Traq and Steve Bottfeld of Marketing Solutions, who track the numbers there, report:

• Median resale home price, $215,000, establishes a new record for the 20th straight month. This April's median is 32.8% above the same month a year ago.
• New median price benchmark for new homes, $239,525. Could see median new home prices increase 40% in 2004.
• New home closings in first four months of 2004 up 47% from 2003 - from 6,843 to 9,519. This includes all product types.
• Existing home closings for first four months up 52.6% in 2004-from 12,163 in 2003 to 18,738 this year.
• Average days on market for an existing home at 21, and resale homes sell at 100% of listing price or above.
• Residential permits in first four months this year up 58% over 2003-from 7,953 to 12,573.
• Raw residential land prices up from average of $200,000 per acre to $400,000 an acre in two years.

"There's no standing inventory, no specs available," says Murphy. "The builders are selling houses faster than they can build them. Every builder in town has a waiting list, with no prices locked in until the houses are approaching completion."