Las Vegas Home Sales Climb in June, Led by Foreclosure Bonanza

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Las Vegas region June home sales climbed to the highest level for any month since December 2006 as more than two-thirds of all buyers in the resale market continued to snap up foreclosures. The median sale price held steady, marking the second month in a row in which it didn't erode on a month-to-month basis, as it had for 16 consecutive months prior to May, a real estate information service reported.

About 70% of the Las Vegas-area houses and condos that resold in June were foreclosure resales, meaning those homes had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months. That was up from 59% in June 2008 but the lowest for any month since it was 68.9% last December. Foreclosure resales peaked in April at 73.7% of total resales, according to MDA DataQuick. The San Diego firm tracks real estate trends nationally via public property records.

A total of 5,519 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County) last month, up 21.7% from May and up 44.1% from a year ago. It was the highest sales total for any month since 5,780 homes sold in December 2006, and the highest for any June since 8,110 homes sold in June 2006.

June marked the 15th consecutive month in which sales of existing single-family detached houses rose on a year-over-year basis. The 4,042 single-family house resales last month were the highest for any June since 4,846 sold in June 2005. Resale condos have seen an annual sales gain for 12 straight months.