Las Vegas Home Sales: 95% of Sales Are to: a) Cash Buyers or b) First-time Buyers with FHA Financing

From the DQNews report on July home sales in Las Vegas:

1. In July, 4,535 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area (Clark County), down 13.8% from June but up 5.2% from July 2010.

2. Distressed sales (foreclosures and short sales) represented 70.6% of July transactions, and foreclosure resales alone accounted for 59.5% of July sales.

3. Last month, 53% of Las Vegas home sales were sold to cash buyers, and 42.1% to homebuyers using low down payment government-insured FHA loans. Those sales represent more than 95% of July real estate transactions, meaning that less than 5% of Las Vegas homes were purchased with conventional financing (10-20% down payments, etc.). In other words, it's like there are two real estate markets in Las Vegas, each with about half the market: a) cash sales to investors, and b) first-time homebuyers using FHA financing with low 3% down payments.

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