Category Archive : Market Updates

LAS VEGAS, NV – Realtors in Las Vegas are beginning to show serious concern over a growing trend that eerily reflects market conditions prior to the mid-2000s recession; back then, it was Wall Street packaging risky subprime mortgages into mortgage-backed securities.  

Fast-forward to today, and Las Vegas Realtor Noah Herrera says that Wall Street is back at it again in a slightly different fashion, purchasing as many homes in the valley as they can, renting them out in what some allege is a “predatory” fashion, and packaging them as rental-backed securities. 

Wall Street is destroying Main Street…again,” Herrera said. “And it’s kind of hard to stomach because at the end of the day, this is capitalism.” 

Herrera Isn’t the only one expressing these concerns; reports indicate that many real estate agents based in the Las Vegas Valley are chiming in on multi billion dollar Wall Street hedge funds and investors snapping up homes left and right, pushing everyday homebuyers out of the market with what many are referring to as “aggressive buying and rental tactics.” 

In Clark County alone, 80,000 single-family homes are owned by investors and hedge funds, which represents approximately 14 percent of the 563,000 homes within its borders. In addition, almost 10 percent of all home purchases within Clark County since 1988 had been made by Wall Street, reports say, and about 13 percent of all single-family home sales in the county since 2012 were made by investors. 

Wall Street home purchases in the Las Vegas Valley hit their highest level in 2021, making up approximately 18 percent of all sales; home purchases by investors swelled even higher in other parts of Southern Nevada, reaching as high as 20 percent in some regions. 

According to Shawn McCoy, director of UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate, many of these homes being snapped up over the decades by Wall Street never again hit the market. 

Since 1988, 77 percent of homes that were purchased by investors were never sold again, suggesting that roughly three quarters of homes that are purchased by investors are held as long-term rentals,” McCoy said. 

Las Vegas Realtor Steve Hawks said this situation has the effect of pricing out local buyers and results in a large portion of local Las Vegas housing inventory being owned not by residents, but by out-of-state investors. 

Wall Street hedge funds have completely destroyed the traditional real estate cycle and industry as we know it,” he said. “For example, entry-level buyers no longer have access to affordable entry-level homes. People wanting to downsize no longer see it worthwhile to downsize due to the lack of entry-level homes under $500,000.” 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg, well-known for starring in blockbuster movies such as “Transformers,” “Boogie Nights,” and “Pain and Gain,” has just sold his Las Vegas home just over one year after having purchased it, making an impressive profit in the process. 

In August 2022, Wahlberg bought a 7,327 square-foot, two-story, four-bedroom townhome for $14.5 million in the Summerlin-based The Summit Club, a stylish, private neighborhood catering to affluent families and individuals.  

One month prior to that purchase, Wahlberg had acquired a 2.5-acre plot of residential land for $15.6 million in the same community with the potential goal of using it to construct a mansion from the ground up. 

Just over one year later, the actor sold the townhouse on September 22 for over $16.6 million, netting himself a $2 million return on his investment. However, to date, it is still not known what the plans for the vacant plot of Summit Club land that he owns are. 

The Summit Club describes itself as a “555-acre extraordinary sanctuary” that is nestled between Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and the Las Vegas Strip, located off Town Center Drive south of Flamingo Road. The website goes on to say “The Summit Club is the only private residential lifestyle club community in Las Vegas. Sit back and enjoy five-star amenities, a championship golf course, a robust outdoor pursuits program and unique terrain-to-table culinary offerings.” 

The website also notes a plethora of wellness and recreation programs for residents, as well as snacks-laden golf course “comfort stations” and pickle ball and tennis courts that are adjacent to Wahlberg’s new residence. 

This is not the first expensive property that Wahlberg has parted with recently; earlier this year, he also sold his Beverly Hills Mansion for $55 million after previously listing the property for $87.5 million in 2022. He and his wife had previously purchased the estate in 2009 for $8.25 million. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – During the mid-2000s recession, numerous families lost their homes to the dreaded malady of foreclosure. And while the housing market has obviously improved significantly since those days, experts are noting that the number of foreclosures nationwide is starting on an upward trajectory once again, with Las Vegas being considered as currently having the highest number of them. 

However, it’s not time to panic just yet, as the current level of foreclosures aren’t even close to approaching those seen during the recession; however, a new report from Attom Data does provide some sobering insight into the current state of the real estate industry, with both Las Vegas and Nevada as a whole placing prominently in it. 

According to Attom Data’s real estate market data analysis, approximately one in every 2,200 homes in Nevada is currently in a state of foreclosure, which is currently the highest rate out of any other state in the country. 

Las Vegas itself ranks 4th in the country among metropolitan areas with over 200,000 residents, with about one in 1,800 homes in foreclosure; the city also ranks first among metropolitan areas with over one million inhabitants. 

However, real estate experts are not sounding the alarm yet, because this is a situation that was anticipated for numerous reasons, the main being that pandemic-era mortgage moratoriums are no longer in effect after a sustained period of time when they were in force following COVID-19 related job losses.  

Current issues caused by the economy and inflation are also contributing to families having difficulty meeting their monthly home payments. 

However, experts note that there is indeed a light at the end of the tunnel, as the Federal Reserve appears to be almost done with the rate hikes they’ve been imposing in order to curb inflation and avoid a potential recession. With that being the case, it is most likely that mortgage rates will start to decrease back to more affordable levels, which should prove to be a large boon to the housing market.  

In the meantime, if you are having difficulty making your housing payments, foreclosure may not be your first option; it is recommended that you look into any programs that your local government or municipality may offer to assist you. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The Rockefeller Group – a private company based in New York City primarily involved in real estate operations and a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Estate Company – announced this week that they had purchased the 19-acre location of a former Walmart supercenter located in Las Vegas, with plans to redevelop the property into an industrial complex.

The project, dubbed the Craig Road Logistics Center – which will be The Rockefeller Group’s third industrial development in Vegas thus far – is located at the intersection of Craig Road and North Nellis Boulevard in Clark County and is slated to be made up of at least two speculative industrial buildings, spanning a total of approximately 369,198 square-feet in size.

The company reportedly paid $19 million for the property, and Marc Berg – Vice President and Regional Director for The Rockefeller Group – noted that demolition of the existing Walmart building will start before the end of September, and that construction is anticipated to be finished on the new industrial complex by June 2025.

The buildings will be designed by Lee & Sakahara Architects and TWC Construction will serve as general contractor.

As for the potential tenants for the complex, Berg noted that they could consist of representatives from a variety of different industries, such as distribution, warehousing, e-commerce, light manufacturing, and assembly.

Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick applauded The Rockefeller Group’s intention to redevelop the former big box store property, saying it would be tremendously helpful to the local economy.

Since the Walmart location closed in 2016, we have been looking for an innovative way to redevelop the parcel and bring back jobs to the area,” she said. “We are confident that we have found the right use for the project and the right partner in The Rockefeller Group.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – With the housing market – both in Las Vegas and nationwide – breeding affordability concerns and pricing many out of the market altogether, buyers have been turning to more affordable options such as townhomes and condominiums. Southern Nevada developers, in turn, have sat up and taken notice, with more of them focusing on building these dwellings in order to produce denser developments and larger returns on their respective investments.

In May 2023, 29.1% of new home sales consisted primarily of townhomes and other such attached products, and this newfound attention from buyers on these housing options are not showing any sign of slowing its current momentum.

Skyrocketing interest rates on home mortgage loans have been the primary factor driving this increased interest in townhomes and condos, as single-family houses are currently outside of many people’s price range. Density in the form of two-story condominium projects are now starting to become a greater emphasis for many developers in the Las Vegas area.

In the first half of 2023, closings for new homes were down 12% year-over-year, with 4,106 single family homes closed on during that span of time. In contrast, 1,237 attached homes were closed on during that same time period, which represents a 6% increase from the first six months of 2022.

Of the new homes sold during the first six months of 2023, 23% of them were attached, including 29.1% in May and 25 percent in June. According to Touchstone Living’s Tom McCormick – one of the main townhome developers in the region – the number of townhomes and condominiums being sold in Las Vegas are on their way to reaching an all-time record high if these trends continue.

I’ve been here since the 1990s, and we’ve never seen it this high.” he said. “It’s about affordability and lifestyle. Land is so expensive and driving housing unaffordability, but with town homes, you can put more homes on the same amount of land. That makes the land cost per home lower and leads to a lower sales price.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to a new report released this week by Rent.com, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Las Vegas Valley decreased by percentage points in the double digits over the course of the past year, with only a minor bump seen in August disrupting this trend. 

The average rental rate for a one-bedroom apartment in Las Vegas in August was $1,654, which represents a 11.9 percent decrease from the same period of time one year prior. However, that average increased slightly this past August, bumping up by a mere 0.36 percent. 

Apartment prices coming down is good news for many Southern Nevada residents, as it represents the fact that rent is beginning to stabilize after skyrocketing for several years and drawing concerns in regard to affordability; however, according to Rent.com CEO Jon Ziglar, prices still remain higher than they were prior to COVID-19. 

I would say the biggest thing, both in Las Vegas and nationally, is that price growth has slowed relative to the last two years, but prices remain elevated well above pre-pandemic norms,” Ziglar said. “Nationally prices were down too, albeit at a much lower rate of 0.06 percent. The caveat to that is prices today are being compared to a period that produced the highest prices we’ve ever seen. But on a longer-term basis, prices continue to be elevated.” 

Part of the reason for the drop in rent is due to the fact that many developers ramped up their efforts to address the massive housing demands – and take advantage of low interest rates and construction costs at the time – that occurred in the Las Vegas Valley during the pandemic.

With many of those projects now being completed and hitting the market, inventory has begun to increase – and will continue to do so into the future – and as a result demand, albeit while still high, is now slowing, the point where some landlords are now offering concessions to prospective tenants to lure them to their properties. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – While commonplace in many other cities, visitors to the famed Las Vegas Strip will take note of the general lack of individual, freestanding retail storefronts lining the four-mile stretch of roadway; instead, the majority of stores are located either within casino hotels or enclosed malls.  

However, one New York-based developer is looking to change that via two street-facing retail projects, with one recently opened and another currently under construction. 

Developer Eli Gindi – whose family founded and owns the Century 21 retail chain – is behind the under-construction “door on the street” retail property dubbed BLVD located at 3743 South Las Vegas Boulevard. Upon completion, this property will utilize 300,000-square-feet of space to deliver two stories of street-facing retail space, with a 100,000-square-foot rooftop overlooking the Strip offering dining and “hang out” area options for patrons. 

Meanwhile, Project 63 at Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard is already open for business, offering up 186,000-square-feet of street-facing retail space right next to the upscale The Shops at Crystals, an enclosed mall owned by the Simon Property Group. 

The move to developing street-facing retail on the Strip shows how the area has evolved over the years, with a major sporting component being added to its impressive gambling and entertainment options. With new venues opening nearby – such as the Golden Knights hockey team’s T-Mobile Arena and the NFL Raiders‘ Allegiant Stadium – more and more sports fans are being lured to Las Vegas and, subsequently, the stores nearby their favorite team’s events that they came there to see. 

Additional sporting attractions – including an upcoming stadium for the Oakland Athletics baseball team, as well as the city hosting a Formula 1 race in November – should prove to continue to draw fans to the Las Vegas, resulting in even further retail expansion in and around the Strip. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Sales of luxury homes in Las Vegas have now reached their highest level ever with a record-setting number of homes priced at $1 million or higher exchanging hands between January and June of this year, and the milestone is being associated with numerous factors, including increasing prices and escalating demand. 

During the first six months of 2023, 267 luxury homes costing $1 million and above were sold, besting the previous all time record of 237 homes sold in the first half of 2022, as per Home Builders Research; the report covered the sale of production homes only, and does not include instances where homeowners have purchased empty property and have utilized it to construct multi-million dollar custom homes upon it. 

Experts in real estate have noted that demand for luxury abodes in Las Vegas has been skyrocketing as of late due to very tight inventory and the fact that many standard homes do not have the opulent trappings and high-end amenities that affluent home buyers are typically looking for. 

In addition, the luxury market in Las Vegas has been performing better when compared to the middle-class housing sector since buyers in that price range typically possess a degree of wealth that current high interest rates on home mortgages are not a deterrent to making a purchase now. In contrast, many average-level income buyers are waiting in hopes that rates will come down at some point. 

Yet another contributing factor for the increase in $1 million and above sales in Las Vegas is the increasing costs associated with construction, which in turn has resulted in more new luxury homes being valued at that threshold than in previous years. 

Vegas has seen luxury sales increase year over year on a regular basis; the only year to buck that trend was 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic put a temporary roadblock on home sales in the second quarter of the year.  

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – According to new data compiled by Construction Coverage – a group that provides in-depth reviews of solutions for the construction and real estate industry – the Las Vegas Valley had the second-lowest number of millennial home buyers throughout the United States in 2022, signifying that the demographic is having a particularly difficult time obtaining housing in Southern Nevada. 

As per the report, approximately 49 percent of home buyers in Las Vegas during 2022 were millennials, with the average age ranging between 25 and 44 years old, placing the city second-to-last among major metropolitan areas with the lowest number of home buyers from that generation.  

The lowest on the list was Tucson, Arizona, with 44.9 percent. In contrast, the major metro area with the highest number of millennial home buyers was San Jose, California, with 74.4 percent. 

Construction Coverage’s study was based on information gleaned from the Federal Financial Institution’s Examination Council, and its author, Jonathan Jones, said that the hurdles faced by millennials in Las Vegas come down to a matter of dollars and cents. 

While there are certainly several factors that can influence the housing market, price typically has an oversized influence,” he said. “From January 2021 to December 2022, the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise metropolitan area saw the median home sale price increase by 40.4 percent, outpacing the national median by 6.6 percentage points.” 

Millennials inherently have less home equity than older generations, and the rapid increase in home prices in the Las Vegas area likely priced out many millennial homebuyers,” Jones added. 

The median price for an existing single-family home sold in Las Vegas in August was $447,435, which is only a very slight decrease from the $450,000 that represented the median price in July; year-over-year, August’s prices were down only 0.6 percent.  

While these numbers represent a certain degree of stability returning to the Las Vegas real estate market after years of skyrocketing prices, homes nonetheless are remaining out of reach for many millennials, who are being hit especially hard by skyrocketing inflation rates throughout the nation. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The prices of homes in Las Vegas during the month of August remained stable but in contrast, the prices condominiums and townhomes fetched during that span of time reached an all-time record high according to new report released by Las Vegas Realtors on Wednesday. 

The median price for an existing single-family home sold in Las Vegas in August was $447,435, which is only a very slight decrease from the $450,000 that represented the median price in July; year-over-year, August’s prices were down only 0.6 percent, showing that the real estate market in Southern Nevada has achieved a degree of stability after several years of ever-climbing prices. 

However, the market for condos and townhomes showed no such restraint in August, with the medium price hitting an all-time high of $287,000; this represents an 8.3 percent increase year-over-year and bests the previous record set in May 2022, when that price was $285,000. 

Inventory in the housing market and several spikes in home mortgage rates are still leaving a lasting effect upon the market, according to Las Vegas Realtors President Lee Barrett. 

Homes prices haven’t changed much lately. As for the record price for condos and townhomes, I attribute that to the demand for lower-priced housing options exceeding our supply,” he said. “Mortgage rates are obviously a factor. But as we’ve been saying all year, the biggest challenge we face in the local housing market is a very tight housing supply.” 

There were 3,881 single family homes listed for sale without any offers at the end of August, which is a decrease of 50 percent year-over-year; Condos and townhomes saw similar numbers, with 978 units listed for sale without offers, a decrease of 46 percent from the same period of time one year prior. 

2,649 existing homes, townhomes, and condos were sold last month, up 0.3 percent for homes and 4.7 percent for condos and townhomes when compared to August 2021. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – San Francisco, California-based Prologis has announced plans to build an 11 million square-foot industrial project in North Las Vegas that will be situated upon 879 acres at Apex Industrial Park that the developer purchased last week. 

The project is slated to take the form of several buildings and construction is anticipated to begin within the next three years, with Prologis planning on also covering the cost of installing utilities at the site, located at Highway 93 and Grand Valley Parkway. 

The developer has not disclosed the price that they paid for the land and the deed has yet to be filed with Clark County officials. 

Prologis’ investment officer, Mathias Hughes, noted that the company sees massive untapped potential in the area in terms of its use as an industrial hub, which is what drove their decision to purchase and develop the land. 

Prologis has been operating in North Las Vegas for more than 30 years,” he said. “Our Vegas Industrial Park project demonstrates our commitment to the market while also enabling us to maintain our development momentum in Southern Nevada.” 

Hughes also justified the new development by referencing the success that Prologis has enjoyed with their previous commercial real estate investments in Las Vegas, noting that the company currently boasts 13.9 million square feet of space in the Las Vegas Valley, 96 percent of which is currently leased. 

We continue to see strong demand for modern and well-located logistics facilities in the market,” he said. “This industrial park will be best in class and its strategic location makes it ideal for a wide range of companies with varying logistics needs.” 

No tenants have been signed up for the Apex Industrial Park property as of yet. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Officials representing the Nevada Division of Insurance and the Nevada Real Estate Division have issued warnings to state residents over a new and increasingly widespread real estate scam known as “vacant lot fraud” or “seller impersonation fraud.”

This particular scam involves individuals pretending to be owners of properties or vacant lots and attempting to sell them before the owners and/or buyers wise up to the scheme. Officials say that there are numerous telltale signs that people should look out for – which are detailed below – before these bad actors are able to separate them from their hard-earned money. 

The fraud works like this: the perpetrator will look through public records in search of real estate that is free of mortgages or liens, and then pretend to be the owner of the property and list it for sale through a real estate agent. The most common targets of this scam are unoccupied properties such as vacant lots and vacation or rental properties that the owner does not personally reside in. 

These scammers normally list the properties below their established market value and quickly accept the first offer they receive; from there, they send falsified documents for the closing and then quickly collect the proceeds and disappear, with the victims completely unaware that they’ve been bamboozled until the fake documents have been recorded with the county. 

The Nevada Division of Insurance and the Nevada Real Estate Division have provided a comprehensive list of the telltale signs of seller impersonation fraud, and they are as follows: 

• Seller refuses to attend signings; always claiming to be out of town.  
• Seller requests to use their own notary. 
• Seller demands proceeds be wired. 
• Seller has a different address than the owner’s address or tax mailing address. 
• Seller refuses or is unable to complete multifactor authentication of identity verification. 

In addition, the following precautions can also help you avoid being a victim of this scam: 

• Send mail to the seller at the address listed on tax and property records. 
• Ask the seller’s real estate agent if they have personal or verified knowledge of the seller’s identity. 
• If using a remote notary, be sure the notary is fully vetted and approved by your state; otherwise, the title company should arrange for an in-person notary signing at an attorney’s office, title agency, or bank. 
• Contact the seller directly at an independently discovered and validated phone number. 
• Verify the sellers identify by sending the seller a link to complete a third-party identity verification. 
• Run the seller’s email and phone number through a verification program. 
• Ask conversational questions to ascertain seller’s knowledge of property information not readily available in public records. 
• Compare the seller’s signature to previously recorded public documents. 
• Use a wire verification service or confirm wire instructions match account details on seller’s disbursement authorization form. 
• Require a copy of a voided check with a disbursement authorization form. 
• Require that a check be sent for seller proceeds rather than a wire. 

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.