That’s a hard question to answer, since no one knows the future. But we can say that a recent statistic from Standard and Poor’s indicated prices for Las Vegas housing are 4.5% lower than they were at this time last year.
In addition, Las Vegas remains the hardest-hit metropolitan area in the country for foreclosures, with the highest rate of all. One in every 25 housing units in Las Vegas received a foreclosure filing -- including notices of default, auction notices, and repossessions -- in the third quarter. A total of 32,288 properties received a filing, 2% higher than second quarter 2010.
One positive glimmer is that the third-quarter foreclosure rate was 20% less than third quarter 2009, when nearly 40,000 properties received a filing or notice.
Perhaps houses with bloated loans and negative equity are starting to run out in southern Nevada. They can’t last forever. At some point, all the toxicity will be flushed out of the Las Vegas housing market and, then, prices will start to rise. But thus far, it looks like that could be a ways off.
