Vegas Sales at Five-Year High as Investors Seek Out Distressed Homes

Las Vegas region home sales held at a five-year high in March amid strong activity from investors and cash buyers focusing on foreclosures.

Due to the large number of discounted, foreclosure properties on the resale market, the median sales price fell in the area.

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According to figures from ""DataQuick"":http://www.dataquick.com, the median price paid for all new and resale houses and condos sold in the Las Vegas metro area in March was $117,000, down 1.7 percent from February and down 10 percent from a year ago.

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It was the sixth consecutive month in which the median fell year-over-year. The March median was the lowest since January 1996.

DataQuick attributes the median's 15-year low to price depreciation, robust sales of low-cost foreclosures, strong sales to investors who target low-cost properties, low new-home sales, and higher-than-usual condo resales.

Distressed sales, the combination of sales of foreclosed homes and short sales, represented about 69 percent of March resale transactions, the company reports.

Foreclosure resales rose to 57.3 percent of the Vegas resale market in March, up from 56.7 percent in February and 55.5 percent a year earlier.

Short sales made up an estimated 11.7 percent of Las Vegas-area March resales, down from 14.3 percent in February and 13.7 percent a year earlier.

Based on trustee deeds filed at the county recorder's office, DataQuick says the number of homes foreclosed on in the Las Vegas region in March rose from both a month and a year earlier.

Lenders foreclosed on 3,331 single-family homes and condo units that month, up 41.6 percent from February and up 52.1 percent from March 2010.