Las Vegas Housing Market Back On Upswing

Summerlin Las Vegas Road — Road To Nowhere

I generally keep this blog to casinos, gaming and travel between Atlantic City and Las Vegas but every now and again I’ll sprinkle in a taste of life I find exploring Vegas. I typically end up in casinos or other toursity spots so this works well. A few weeks ago I was driving around the suburbs drinking coffee on a beautiful Sunday morning when I noticed that formerly barren corners of Las Vegas were beginning to get some action. I thought this was a sign that something was happening but wasn’t sure what to make of it. Yesterday we got this news:

U.S. home prices spiked 10.9 percent in March compared to the same period a year ago, with all 20 cities measured in the most recent Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller housing report posting positive year-over-year growth for the third month in a row.

Phoenix has the largest annual increase in annual prices at 22.5 percent, followed by San Francisco with 22.2 percent and Las Vegas with 20.6 percent. Boston annual prices rose 6.7 percent, according to the report.

The increase in housing sales explains the activity I’ve witnessed in my corner of Vegas. The drive on this Sunday morning took me to the edge of civilization and the Red Rock mountains. I imagine that this land, like much of the other land around it, was probably desert just a few years ago before the last Vegas building boom. The road to nowhere on this day shows where the building ended (left side of the street) and where building has ramped up again (right side).

Long Road To Nowhere Las Vegas

Las Vegas is still new to me since most of my travels end up in casinos and I often end up taking roads to nowhere when I want to clear my head. These are roads where the Las Vegas boom just stops. Roads are unfinished and there partially started construction sites. It’s kind of sad but also kind of cool to look at because it’s something I’ve never seen before.

End Of The Road Las Vegas

The road to nowhere above used to just end. There were no machines moving and nothing happening. This Sunday morning they were resting like normal people…err machines but have been working during normal work hours. Looping back you can see that houses are being worked on right now.

Nowhere House Las Vegas

The construction out in the Vegas burbs has resumed and that’s a good sign of the Las Vegas economy. The Vegas strip has also begun preparing for an improved economy with construction resuming last year with The Linq and this year with MGM and SLS Vegas construction.

The next boom in Vegas won’t be as extravagant as when CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Wynn and Encore where built but new activity on the strip and in the burbs can only mean good things in the near future for both Vegas and Las Vegas.