July home sales in valley drop in volume, increase in price

Home sales in the valley saw a significant drop in July, as there were 23 single family units sold, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors.

The 23 homes sold are a 46-percent drop compared to July 2015, which had 43 homes sold. The total represents the least amount of homes sold in a month in Pahrump since November 2014.

Longtime Pahrump realtor and All Star Realty owner Cathy Slaughterback explained VA loans have been scaring off potential buyers after appraisals for homes they put offers on come in under the proposed purchase prices. Slaughterback believes this could be responsible for the low amount of units sold last month in town.

“Appraisals are killing us. We could have sold another 10 houses but they didn’t come in on appraisals,” Slaughterback said. “So that difference in numbers is those appraisals. If somebody offers them $279,000 and the appraiser comes in and says no, it’s only worth $240,000, what are they going to think about the rest of the $39,000, should I just eat it?

“It’s just a mental and a financial burden.”

Although there isn’t one single reason for the change in home sales, GLVAR President Scott Beaudry explained that available homes might be shrinking the sales volume.

“We sold fewer homes and condos in July than we did during the previous month and year. Sales have been running ahead of last year’s pace,” Beaudry said. “Our tight inventory might finally be slowing down our sales pace. Sales slipped the most during July for lower-priced homes. This suggests it’s getting harder for entry-level buyers to find the homes they want.”

Reflecting Beaudry’s statement, the average price a single-family unit was sold for last month jumped. The average price of a single-family home in Pahrump was $205,187, a nine-percent increase over last year’s $187,157 mark.

Compared to June’s numbers, the comparison is similar to the yearly comp, as 42 homes were sold, at an average price of $181,491.

Even with the slow month of house sales volume-wise in July, the Pahrump Valley is still on pace to outperform last year’s yearly total of 372 homes sold. Through July there have been 246 homes sold in town, outpacing 2015’s total through the first seven months of the year of 202 homes sold.

This will mark the second straight year home sales will increase over the previous year if the trend holds, as 2015’s 372 homes outpaced 2014’s 344.

Contact reporter Mick Akers at makers@pvtimes.com. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.