Mesquite Market

For those who like to point to the Las Vegas market with “We hear sales are up”, the median resale single family home in Las Vegas sold for $162,999 or $96 per foot in December, according to Home Builders Research, Inc.

This number makes the 15 resale homes closed during the entire fourth quarter in Mesquite look pretty good at an average price of $248,027 or $143 per square foot. Unfortunately, this price is over 25 time’s fair market rent and over five times Mesquite median annual income, not good signs.

Realistically, the Vegas number is most likely a glimpse into the 2009 Mesquite Market numbers. The storm of foreclosures is on Mesquite’s horizon and moving in fast.

Mesquite MLS shows 25 new homes closed during this past quarter with an average price of $293,151 or $158 per square foot.

Sun City Mesquite had only 10 closings reported through the Mesquite MLS for the entire fourth quarter, and without adjusting for incentives the price averaged $145 per square foot or $240,827.

We closed 14 town home units averaging $129 per square foot and none above $300,000.

With nearly 100 active condo units for sale, only 5 sold and closed in the last 90 days of 2008.

The term “sticky prices” is clearly in play, but the buyers are not buying it. In other words sellers have yet to really drop prices and buyers are waiting. 

No commercial sites or commercial buildings closed during the fourth quarter 2008. By my estimate there may be as much as 300,000 square feet of vacant commercial/industrial space, yet 19 new commercial building permits were taken out during 2008. Many will require new permanent financing this year and it will be a real challenge for some given the current credit markets and vacancy rates.

The residential vacant land super pad or subdivision market has gone from bank foreclosures to FDIC owned through bank failure and seizure in some cases. Based on 378 new home building permits issued for the year of 2008, including Sun City there is over a 20 year supply of building lots. These values in some cases look like they may have fallen as much as 80% from 2005 prices.

All total including every residential category we closed 311 units during 2008 compared to 706 during 2005, that is 56% less sales. At the same time inventory of listed property for sale reached an all time high with over 400.

Another telling sign in the market is the failed listings during 2008, they reached 764. They went out of active inventory as expired, canceled, or withdrawn. The problem is that they are still out there and many are vacant or due to negative cash flow, must be sold.

2009 should be a year of opportunity and challenge.

Please remember if you are planning a visit and would like to discuss the Mesquite Market call ahead to let me know you are coming so we can schedule a few minutes.

Chris W. Miller

ERA Brokers Consolidated

Mesquite NV  89027

702- 346-7200

435-862-5951

Mesquite Market

chris@mesquitemarket.com

Lincoln County Land Market

Nevada Ranch Properties

Mesquite Nevada home building permits issued are still up. This should not be a surprise with Pulte/Del Webb’s Sun City Mesquite, now one year old. Most of the 209 YTD new construction permits went to Sun City. MLS verses Clark County records show buyers with agents paid slightly less per square foot, $157 on 62 sales from county records, $155 from MLS records on 23 sales. If nothing else, buyers who come out and register with an agent have the advantage of keeping Sun City on their toes; the agent can take the buyer to see the competition. You need to bring your agent (Please keep me in mind, I would like to apply for this JOB!) to Sun City on your Initial visit, or wait six months to go back, then bring me back with you to get re-registered.

The Mesquite Nevada land market is changing forever. In the past, all the land north of I-15 was controlled by just a few people. Today, with whole subdivisions going into foreclosure, the monopoly is shattered. This is very positive for the future competitive building market. You will be able to buy a lot, pick a builder, and shop the whole process. Good news for consumers. Estimates range from 10,000 to 14,000 vacant lots sitting out there in varying stages of development. Those numbers do not include the 13,300 acres (40,000 home sites estimated) with a six and a half mile border with Mesquite to the north in Lincoln County. This land is burning interest money at a scary pace, and will be brought to the market as soon as the people involved can get some things in order, like a water supply.

The re-sale home, condo, and town home markets are suffering from competition from every direction, new construction, foreclosures, old inventory of new construction that has never been sold or lived in, and desperate sellers.

You can clearly see it in the existing single family homes closed numbers, April had 29 closings at $168 per foot, May had 25 closings at $167 per foot, and JUNE had 30 closings at $140 per foot. The notice of defaults, there appears to be a wave of these coming, more foreclosures coming on the market, and the banks, well the banks are beginning to act scared. They are beginning to clear inventory at prices more like you would expect. We may not be seeing the bottom but there are some numbers coming through that make a whole lot more sense.

The highlight of the Mesquite, Nevada commercial real estate market can be summed up in a word, VACANCY. This excess inventory is going to take some time to clear. The City of Mesquite spent $80,000 on the Buxton study to promote business development in Mesquite. They have issued 56 commercial new construction permits over the last 30 months, so the builders and speculators bought into the boom anyway.

No single family lots closed. “The Chalet” sold for $550,000, and a commercial lot, actually it was a small house zoned commercial closed this quarter. No other commercial property closed through MLS.

Sun City Mesquite just announced they are building 41 spec homes; move in ready standing inventory, this is not good news for existing home sellers.

Depending on which side of the fence you are on, this market correction could be the greatest thing you have ever seen or possibly the worst.

The future for Mesquite Nevada Real Estate Market is BRIGHTER!

For your complete daily market update,  Mesquitemarket.com or tune into Radiomesquite.com for “Talking Real Estate” Saturdays at 3pm pacific time. Please feel free to contact me.

Chris W. Miller

ERA Brokers Consolidated

Mesquite NV  89027

702- 346-7200

435-862-5951

Mesquite Market

Nevada Farm and Ranch Land

Nevada Water Rights

Lincoln County Land Market

chris@mesquitemarket.com

When you go to the grocery store do you make a list? Watch people shopping, you will see them reading and checking off their list. Have you ever written day old bread or sour milk on your list? 

Everyone knows you get a discount when you buy day old. Same goes for the day before that “sell by date”. Everything always sells for less when it has been on the shelf awhile and is about to expire. That is the only way to get people to pick it up; it has to be a real bargain. Even then, many people won’t consider it.

So when it comes time to put your house on the market, will you offer fresh baked at a better price? Creating that appealing no thought required purchase that shoppers are all drawn to.