Las Vegas bank-owned home prices lagging behind other resales

Foreclosed homes are often trashed by vandals or past owners who steal copper wiring, smash windows and leave piles of garbage. You might expect a big price break, but not in Las Vegas in recent years.

Bargain-hunting investors bought houses in bulk when the market crashed and pushed up prices valleywide, even for homes that were a mess and owned by lenders.

But now, as the market cools and investors back out, busted houses arent such hot properties anymore.

Distressed-home prices rose fast and kept pace with the broader market for a while but now are volatile and falling behind the market at large.

When the market hit bottom in early 2012, single-family homes sold for a median $118,000 and, within that, bank-owned homes for $100,000. A year and a half later, the overall median had soared to $180,000 and bank-owned homes to almost $173,000, according to data from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors listing service, which largely comprises previously owned homes.

Last month, the overall median was $204,000, but bank-owned homes went for $155,500, down 24 percent from the market at large, GLVAR data show.

Real estate pros disagree on the exact reasons for the widening gap, and some arent sure its happening at all. Platinum Real Estate Professionals agent Steve Hawks, for one, said the statistics are incomplete because at least half of bank-owned homes arent listed through the GLVAR.

But as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices broker Heidi Kasama sees it, the growing price gap is a sign of normalcy in Las Vegas' volatile market, as buyers should get a price break on distressed homes.

Prices could also be tailing off because house hunters, amid slackened competition and slumping sales, are taking their time and not always settling for run-down or debt-laden properties, as they were often forced to do a few years ago.

Overall, with investors now cutting back on deals amid higher prices they helped create, listings of previously owned homes increasingly are being ignored, sales volume is dropping and prices arent climbing nearly as fast as a year ago, prompting some insiders to describe Las Vegas as a buyers market.

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Las Vegas bank-owned home prices lagging behind other resales