They didn’t even have to enter a casino to take a gamble on real estate in Nevada.
Mortgage companies and other lenders filled mortgage loan orders like dealers at the Black Jack table in a Las Vegas casino, only to see the real estate market come tumbling down. The Las Vegas housing market appears to be headed to an all-time U.S. real estate crash.
A record foreclosure market, exacerbated by the least controlled lending environment in the nation sent mortgage borrowers, including the largest number of investors in any metropolitan market to Las Vegas. But when the mortgage money stopped the market slowed only to have home prices fall at the most rapid rate in the nation, according to the Housing Predictor forecast.
Foreclosures are available on every street in Sin City as the city faces the worst economic threat in its history. Investors are still buying homes in Vegas, but hardly at the pace during the markets boom. Las Vegas is projected to see average home prices deflate 18.9% in 2008.
 |
| City |
Forecast |
| Las Vegas |
− 18.9% |
| Reno |
− 10.2% |
| Lake Tahoe |
− 7.8% |
| Carson City |
− 6.9% |
Las Vegas won the title as being the subprime capital of the country in the real estate boom, and the FBI says it may be the worst real estate market in the nation for loan fraud. The Fed’s are investigating a lengthy list of real estate transactions.
More homeowners are walking away from homes in Las Vegas, allowing them to be foreclosed than any where else in the country. The increasing number of foreclosures has ignited an investors marketplace. But many investors are having trouble getting mortgages.
In the city that likes to favor itself as "The Biggest Little City in The World" in Reno real estate is also much slower. Prices boomed and builders built and now many home builders are beginning to walk out on projects. Home buyers in preconstruction purchases are abandoning earnest money deposits and canceling transactions.
The boom has run out of gas. Home sales are off and headed to being half of what they were when the market was hot. Prices on homes are deflating and are headed for a drop forecast to be 10.2% in 2008. The Reno market is going bust.
In neighboring Lake Tahoe, which is only half in Nevada sharing the beautiful Sierra Mountain views with California, the high-end market is faring fairly well for now. But increasing credit market tightening will send Lake Tahoe home prices south at an average tune of 7.8% by year's end.
In Carson City jitters about the economy have already sent many home owners into foreclosure. Prices are declining and will be cut by a forecast 6.9% in 2008.
