Vegas: The New Frontier
Posted by Jake Truman
Unless you have been living in Siberia, you know that Real Estate is on fire in many places around the country. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a city where this was not the case. Las Vegas is one of those places that property values keep spiking upward, with no end in sight. The real spike came over the past 18 months. The city remains a juggernaut, chewing up raw land by the minute.
Unless you have been living in Siberia, you know that Real Estate is on fire in many places around the country. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a city where this was not the case. Las Vegas is one of those places that property values keep spiking upward, with no end in sight. The real spike came over the past 18 months. The city remains a juggernaut, chewing up raw land by the minute. Unlike many other markets, which are being falsely inflated by nothing more than
buyer frenzy, Las Vegas has many solid factors behind its ascent. When so-called
analysts speak of a possible Real Estate “bubble�, Las Vegas is not one of the places
included. Looking at the factors behind the growth leads one to the understanding
of how undervalued Las Vegas really is. Solid Indicators I. City Growth – Las Vegas has been growing by leaps and bounds for decades
now. It is not some flash in the pan city that has started to grow just recently and
not one that will stop any time soon. There are currently 6,000 new residents each
month. Going by the actual numbers and not faulty percentages, Las Vegas is one of
the top growing places in America. II. Land Scarcity – One of the main factors behind home appreciation is the land
value. When land in a desired area is in short demand (or completely accounted for),
value goes up. The city of Las Vegas is running out of land. At first glance it might
seem like there is a lot of land left, but when you factor in how fast the city grows,
land is in short supply. It has been estimated that the city will be out of land within
4-5 years. Hot areas like Summerlin have all their land accounted for. III. Job Growth and Diversity – Las Vegas leads the nation in getting educated
workers to move to the city. Tech oriented jobs are on the rise. Qualcomm recently
broke ground on a new facility in North Las Vegas citing their belief in the area and
the work force. The Las Vegas area is experiencing tremendous job growth and will
continue to do so. IV. Home Sales – Even with the glut of new home developments, Real Estate is still
climbing upward and being eaten up at a furious pace. The resale market alone
experiences over 3,000 sales monthly of homes and approximately 700+ condos
monthly. The new development market is very hot. People literally camp out waiting
for a new developer to open up the waiting list. It is not uncommon for new
developers, who have not even built one model, to have a waiting list of 6-8 months
almost instantly. New high-rise condo developments, like Donald Trump's new
towers are being sold hand over fist. The median home value in Las Vegas has climbed just passed $300,000 and it will
go higher, much higher. As of this writing, the market is favorable to buyers, but
that will change as soon as next year when inventory falls. If you would like to learn
more about the Las Vegas market, view more articles at my Real Estate (JakeTruman.com) web site. I fully expect
the median home price in Las Vegas to top $500,000 in the coming 2-4 years. Copyright 2005 JakeTruman.com Jake Truman is a Real Estate & Stock investor and Credit informer. Website: Real Estate. He has published a book on Credit Help, which is
available at his website.
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