Investment Strategies Firm Sets Sights on Southern Nevada; Invests Heavily in Las Vegas Real Estate
LAS VEGAS, NV – When the largest alternative investment firm in the world decides that your city is ripe for sinking their dollars into on a vast scale, it all but cements you as a hot property, and for all intents and purposes, that’s just what Las Vegas has become in recent months.
The Blackstone Group is an American multinational private equity, alternative asset management, and financial services firm based in New York City. It specializes in private equity, credit, and hedge fund investment strategies, and it has recently turned its sights on the Southern Nevada region and the current real estate surge that is gripping the local economy.
The prices of single-family dwellings have gone up nearly nine percent since February 2016, with the average home currently going for approximately $240,000. 2,249 single-family homes were sold in the Southern Nevada area in February, an increase of 6.5 percent from one year ago; and with that steadily increasing demand also comes increasing prices; in February of 2012, the average price of a single-family home in the Las Vegas was about $121,000, but in 2017 that same home will net a seller $240,000. Not only has the Las Vegas real estate market stabilized since the burst of the housing bubble of the mid-2000’s, but it clearly is on the comeback trail in a very big way…and investors, such as Blackstone, are sitting up and taking notice.
The Blackstone Group recently signed on the dotted line to acquire ownership of three Las Vegas Valley apartment buildings – primarily from developer Martin Egbert of Nevada West Partners – to the tune of $170 million. The properties included in the deal are Dream apartment complex in Henderson as well as Union Apartments and SW Apartments, both situated in Vegas’ southwest valley. All told, the deal netted Blackstone ownership of 972 individual living units, and when you do the math, that comes out to approximately $174,900 apiece; in contrast, apartment units in the region were going for about $96,700 each one year ago at about this time, which is yet another example of the skyrocketing real estate market in Las Vegas these days.
This move represents a distinct change of pace from the investment giant; previously, The Blackstone Group was known for their budget-conscious nature when it came to Las Vegas properties, purchasing over 900 homes in Southern Nevada at rock bottom prices after the housing crash, promptly turning them into rentals servicing both Millennials – who typically are either unwilling or unable to spend the money needed into buying a home – and tourists to the area. This strategy, while not immediately resulting in tidy profits, has finally come to fruition in the last year, as the prices of rentals – both homes and apartments – have jumped steadily in 2017, with a typical rent for a three-bedroom home rising up three percent in the first three months of the current year to an average monthly price of $1,328, and according to reports, apartment prices went up four percent, with one-bedroom apartments now typically costing $890 on the open market.
Clearly, places to live in Las Vegas – home purchases or rental properties of different types – are in ever-growing demand and not showing any signs of slowing down; even powerful business tycoons of Wall Street are opening up their wallets to degrees unprecedented in recent years to get in on the action, and as a result, investors of all walks of life are seeing dividends on their efforts. Las Vegas is, quite literally and figuratively, a hot property right now, and anyone looking to cash-in is best advised to get moving while they can.
If you’re looking to invest here in the Las Vegas Valley, please feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.