The price gap between new and resale homes is nearing $100k in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review Journal, reports that the median sales price of a newly built single-family house in Southern Nevada was around $389,450 in July, compared with $295,000 for a previously owned one, a gap of almost $94,450, according to data from Las Vegas-based Home Builders Research. Of course, prices vary for new homes and resales and depend on such factors as size, location and condition.
Also, buying new isn’t always the pricier route, as you can find resales in, say, Summerlin that cost more than what builders are offering in other parts of the valley. Applied Analysis co-owner Brian Gordon said new homes in Las Vegas tend to be an average of about 500 square feet larger than previously owned dwellings. New-home prices also account for land, material and labor costs, and Gordon said the megaprojects in town are putting upward pressure on construction workers’ wages. Land prices also have been climbing, and as long as dirt keeps getting more expensive, so will new houses, Home Builders Research President Andrew Smith said. New Home Builders closed 5,042 sales of single-family homes in Southern Nevada this year through July, down 5 percent from the same period in 2018, Home Builders Research reported. Smith, however, said the builders’ sales drop isn’t “alarming.”
Despite the price gap, demand is there. “People are still buying new houses,” he said.