VEGAS INC Magazine - Latest Las Vegas business news, features and commentaries about gaming, tourism, real estate and more
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REAL ESTATE GAMING HOOTERS CASINO CONSIDERING FORECLOSURE ALTERNATIVES By Steve Greensenior staff writer The bankrupt Hooters resort wants to explore alternatives to a forced foreclosure, including raising capital, a merger or a sale of the property. Hooters' parent company, 155 East SLOW SALES: Pedestrians pass by a housing development in the southwest valley tremendously impacted by the Great Recession. Report: Valley Home Sales Suffered From Debt Crisis By Buck Wargostaff writer Sales of existing Las Vegas homes in July were strong by historic standards, but concerns about the economy and a political standoff in Washington cost the market , a San Diego research firm said. Existing home sales have risen year-over-year for eight consecutive months, boosted by investors paying with cash and first-time homebuyers, DataQuick reported. Existing home sales were down 13.9 percent from June. Single- family homes fell from 3,722 to 3,144 and condo sales fell from 1,002 to 923. The good news is that July's sales were 5.7 percent higher than the same month in 2010, the first month to lose the boost from the federal homebuyer tax credit that expired, DataQuick said. Since 1994, sales typically declined an average of 8.4 percent between June and July. The larger than usual drop between June and July this | 29 AUGUST 2011 | THINKING ABOUT SELLING? Las Vegas-based SalesTraq listed the median sale price of existing homes and condos at $105,000 in July. The median price of new homes sold in July was $199,000. year was likely the result of potential homebuyers getting nervous about worsening economic news, as well as concerns about political leaders in Washington dealing with the federal debt ceiling, DataQuick spokesman Andrew LePage said. Cash buyers purchased 53 percent of homes sold in July, up from 50.6 percent in June, LePage said. It's not far from the record of 56.7 percent in February. Absentee buyers, mainly investors and second-home buyers, purchased 46.5 percent of the homes in July, up from 45.9 percent in June. That's below the record sales of 49.9 percent in March. The median sale price declines have slowed—but not stopped—since it was $109,900 in January. Las Vegas-based SalesTraq listed the median sale price of existing homes and condos at $105,000 in July, down from $106,000 in June. The July price was nearly $15,000 lower than July 2010. Short sales fetched the highest home price at $117,500. That was followed by traditional sales which were $110,500. Foreclosure sales went for $97,050 and homes sold at auction went for $91,000. The average price per square foot of existing homes sold in July was $70.33, which is 12 percent lower than July 2010, SalesTraq reported. The year-to-date average home price is $70.83 per square foot. Las Vegas remains on pace to post its best existing homes sales total in history. Sales started to slow in 2006 and hit bottom in 2007, based on SEE SALES PAGE 13 Tropicana LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on August 1 to block a foreclosure planned by lender Canpartners Realty Holding Co. IV, an affiliate of investment company Canyon Capital Realty Advisors of Los Angeles. The 696-room property on Tropicana SEE HOOTERS PAGE 14 REAL ESTATE PRUDENTIAL AMERICANA ACQUIRES COMPETITOR By Buck Wargostaff writer Prudential Americana Group announced it has acquired one of its largest competitors in the market and, combined, will elevate itself to the No. 1 brokerage in Las Vegas. The acquisition of Century 21 MoneyWorld by Prudential Americana moves it ahead of Realty One Group as the largest brokerage in Las Vegas in sales volume. From July 2010 to June 2010, Realty One Group had 8,876 sales and a sales volume of $1.31 billion, or 11.1 percent of the market. Prudential Americana had 7,006 sales and $1.14 billion in sales volume, which was 9.7 percent of total market share. Prudential takes over the 150 real estate executives who were part of MoneyWorld. Prudential has 1,150 agents. Prudential Americana has bounced back SEE PRUDENTIAL PAGE 13 11 STEVE MARCUS