Who’s ready for the Friday Figures? All information from the GLVAR MLS system. This is the actual no-spin data about our local market that you and your REALTOR need before touring, making an offer, or preparing a listing in the Las Vegas Valley this weekend. Watch me talk about the figures live on Getting REAL (Estate) in Vegas on the Vegas Video Network live today and every Friday at 2:00 PM! Today we’ll talk about swimming pools, movie stars (Ok, maybe not movie stars), and tax breaks for homeowners.

Summary: We have only 10225 available properties, compared to 11124 at the beginning of January. The median price on both short sale and classic listings is up! More good news, the number of very low priced properties is declining. As normal, the end of the month meant more closed sales than usual for the week. Sales in the last 30 days remain strong, building on last year’s numbers. The gap between sales and list prices is widening up, but at under 4% it’s still not a “low-ball” market.

The News: Let’s start with fun stuff for a change! Here’s a time lapse map of Vegas. And for those of you who love bizarre listings, check out Ugly House Photos. Ok, back to boring old reality.

Both CoreLogic and Case-Shiller said that home prices declined in December. Remember that we are talking about December (a month when only those who truly must buy and sell homes), and we are talking about nationwide numbers. But here’s another important point: inventory is down 17% nationwide. The law of supply and demand suggests what?

There’s still the possibility of a foreclosure fraud settlement that actually involves further investigating crimes committed by banks. However, there’s no way the parties will meet an arbitrary deadline for today — a move that struck me as meaning there was one mighty big devil in the details. There is one more bit of really good foreclosure news: mortgage delinquencies were down an amazing 40% in 2011.

Mortgage rates dropped yet again to yet another record low: 3.87%. One can almost understand why the Obama Administration is so enthusiastic about refinancing programs, despite the fact that it will never, ever fix the housing market.

Available Listings: There are 8718 single family homes (down), with a median price of $140,000 (up), $72 per square foot (unchanged). In addition, there are 921 condominiums (down), with a median price of $55,000 (unchanged), $55 per square foot (unchanged) and 586 townhomes (down) with a median price of $80,000 (down), $59 per square foot (down). Last month we had 9504 single family homes with a median price of $139,500, 967 condominiums with a median price of $55,000, and 647 townhomes with a median price of with a median price of $80,000.

Distressed Properties: Of available listings, there are 4582 short sales (down) and 1826 bank-owned properties (down). Median price for a short sale is $110,913 (up); median price on a bank-owned home is $107,000 (down). All short sale listings should be considered at risk of becoming bank owned properties whether they are available or contingent. The 3814 non-distressed properties for sale (down) had a median price of $187,986 (up). While many of the non-distressed properties are traditional sellers, many others were purchased fairly recently as short sale or bank owned, and then renovated by investors. A month ago we had 5079 shorts, 2108 foreclosures, and 3933 classic listings available.

Single Family Home Prices: Of available listings, 374 under $50,000; 2181 between $50,000-$100,000; 3585 between $100,000-$200,000; 1717 between $200,000-$400,000; 475 between $400,000-$700,000; 187 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 304 over $1,000,000. January’s figures were 388 under $50,000; 2509 between $50,000-$100,000; 3970 between $100,000-$200,000; 1775 between $200,000-$400,000; 490 between $400,000-$700,000; 199 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 296 over $1,000,000.

Condo and Townhome Prices: Of available listings, 542 under $50,000; 662 between $50,000-$100,000; 238 between $100,000-$200,000; 65 between $200,000-$400,000; 12 between $400,000-$700,000; 1 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 1 over $1,000,000. For technical reasons, these figures do not include high-rise communities. Last month there were 552 under $50,000; 739 between $50,000-$100,000; 261 between $100,000-$200,000; 65 between $200,000-$400,000; 14 between $400,000-$700,000; 1 between $700,000-$1,000,000; and 2 over $1,000,000.

Contingent and Pending Listings: Of the 12900 properties in the process of being purchased (up), 10761 are single family homes with median price of $120,000 (unchanged); 1331 are condominiums with median price of $50,000 (unchanged); 810 are townhomes with a median price of $74,900 (up). Final negotiated sales prices are confidential until closing. Of the total, 8766 are short sale, 2637 are foreclosed, and 1498 are traditional sales. While the bank-owned and traditional sales are likely to close within 30-45 days, no time frame is available for unapproved short sales. A month ago we had 12180 properties under contract.

Recently Sold: 999 properties closed this week, 3519 in the last 30 days, and 3655 so far this year. For properties closed in the last 30 days, median time on market was 47 days (up). Median sales price was $105,125 (unchanged); median list price was $108,886 (unchanged). For single family homes, median sales price was $118,000 (down), for condos $48,550 (up), and for townhomes $65,500 (down). Short sales accounted for 990 of the total, there were 1605 bank owned properties, and 924 non-distressed sales. Last month we had 3844 recent sales; median sales price was $108,000 and median list price was $109,900.

Rentals: 5702 homes, townhomes, and condos were available for rent in the Valley in the MLS system (down). Median square footage of these units is 1500 and median rent is $1099. There are 915 contingent leases waiting to be signed and 2536 leases signed in the last 30 days (up) with median rent of $1095 and median square footage of 1536. At the beginning of January we had 5800 available rentals and 1913 new leases.

Need more information or help with your real estate needs? Call me today at 702-727-7842 or email bmagnus@bridgetmagnus.com. Based on information from the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS Multiple Listing Service for the date specified above. This article was written and copyright by Bridget Magnus, and is her sole property.

---