Las Vegas, NV Metropolitan Area Shows Signs of Improvement
WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 12, 2014 – (RealEstateRama) –The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the April edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report on the nation’s housing market. This month’s Housing Scorecard also features a spotlight on the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area (Las Vegas MSA). The latest data show progress among key indicators. While house prices remain stable and equity continues to grow, new and existing home sales have slowed. While this scorecard notes positive overall trends in the housing market, officials caution that the harsh winter slowed growth as the economy recovers from the Great Recession. The full Housing Scorecard and spotlight on the Las Vegas MSA are available online at www.hud.gov/scorecard.
“April’s Housing Scorecard shows that the housing market is stabilizing, as home prices have risen nearly 7 percent from last year, and foreclosure completions are at their lowest level since mid-2007,” said HUD Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research Katherine O’Regan. “However, the harsh winter, fewer distressed properties on the market, and continued tight credit standards have combined to slow the pace of home sales this month, indicating we need to remain vigilant to keep the recovery robust.”
“While the housing market continues to make progress, there are still many homeowners struggling to make their mortgage payments,” said Treasury Acting Assistant Secretary Tim Bowler. “Treasury remains committed to helping homeowners through our programs under Making Home Affordable (MHA). As this report shows, nearly 1.3 million homeowners have received a permanent modification through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the program has saved homeowners an estimated $26.8 billion to date in monthly mortgage payments.”
The April Housing Scorecard features key data on the health of the housing market and the impact of the Administration’s foreclosure prevention programs, including:
- House prices remain stable.As of February 2014, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) purchase-only house price index rose 6.9 percent from last year and ticked up 0.6 percent (seasonally adjusted) from January. The FHFA seasonally adjusted purchase-only index for the U.S. shows that home values are on par with prices in mid-2005. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Home Price Index for February posted returns of 12.9 percent over the past 12 months and was virtually the same (not seasonally adjusted) from January. Prices, however, are typically weaker at this time of the year. The Case-Shiller index shows that home values are back to their mid-2004 levels. (The Case-Shiller and FHFA price indices are released with a 2-month lag.)
- Foreclosure completions are at their lowest level since mid-2007.A total of 28,840 U.S. properties were repossessed by lenders (Real Estate Owned, or REO) in March, down 5 percent from February and down 34 percent from a year ago—to the lowest level since July 2007. Newly initiated foreclosures, at 55,710 U.S. properties, were up 7 percent from February but still down 24 percent from one year ago. (Source: Realty Trac).
- New Home Sales Have Slowed in Recent Months.Purchases of new homes dropped 14.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 384,000 in March—an eight-month low. New home sales were down 13.3 percent from a year earlier, the first annual decline since the third quarter of 2011. (Source: HUD and Census Bureau).
- The Administration’s foreclosure mitigation programs continue to provide relief for millions of homeowners as the recovery from the housing crisis continues.More than 2.0 million homeowner assistance actions have taken place through the Making Home Affordable Program, including nearly 1.4 million permanent modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), while the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) has offered nearly 2.3 million loss mitigation and early delinquency interventions through March. The Administration’s programs continue to encourage improved standards and processes in the industry, with HOPE Now lenders offering families and individuals more than 4.0 million proprietary modifications through February (data are reported with a 2-month lag). In all, more than 8.3 million mortgage modification and other forms of mortgage assistance arrangements were completed between April 2009 and the end of March 2014.
This month’s Housing Scorecard also features a regional spotlight on market strength in the Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area (Las Vegas MSA). Like many areas across the country, the economic and housing market conditions in the Las Vegas area are improving, but the housing crisis and recession hit this area particularly hard and their economic recovery started later. The Administration’s broad approach to stabilize the housing market has been provided help to homeowners throughout the Las Vegas MSA.
“As the national housing market continues to improve, the Las Vegas metropolitan area is also showing signs of recovery from the recession,” said O’Regan. “As the regional spotlight shows, the Las Vegas MSA was one of the hardest-hit areas during the housing crisis. House prices plummeted by 60 percent during the housing downturn in the Las Vegas area and there was a sharp increase in the number of distressed mortgages. While it’s clear Administration efforts have helped the area rebound, more work must be done to help homeowners in this area struggling from an excess of housing construction and unsustainable mortgage lending in the years leading up to the housing crisis and recession.”
The Housing Scorecard Regional Spotlight features data on the health of the Las Vegas MSA housing market and impact of efforts to help homeowners at the local level including:
- Economic and housing market conditions in the Las Vegas MSA are improving.Although the recovery from the recession started later in Las Vegas, jobs have been increasing at an average annual rate of 18,450, or 2.3 percent, from the first quarter of 2011 through the fourth quarter of 2013. As of January 2014, the rate of distressed mortgages has fallen from a peak of 19.8 percent to 7.6 percent compared to a decline from 8.0 to 4.5 percent nationally. The share of underwater mortgages remains high but has dropped to 32.6 percent as of the fourth quarter of 2013, down from 55.0 percent a year earlier.
- Administration Programs Are Providing Much Needed Relief to the Last Vegas MSA. The Administration’s broad approach to stabilizing the Las Vegas housing market has contributed to the improvements as more than 82,100 homeowners received mortgage assistance between April 2009 and March 2014. Furthermore, the Las Vegas MSA has benefitted from $154 million in funding from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, and the State of Nevada has received $194 million from the Hardest Hit Fund program.
The National Mortgage Servicing Settlement is continuing to provide relief for those in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and throughout the state of Nevada. Under the landmark National Mortgage Servicing Settlement, more than 20,400 Nevada homeowners have benefitted from over $1.9 billion in refinancing, short sales and completed or trial loan modifications, including principal reduction on first and second lien mortgages provided as of June 30, 2013. Nationwide, the settlement has provided more than $50 billion in consumer relief benefits to more than 631,000 families. That is in addition to the $2.5 billion in payments to participating states and $1.5 billion in direct payments to borrowers who were foreclosed upon between 2008 and 2011.
Contact:
HUD Public Affairs
(202) 708-0980
Treasury Public Affairs
(202) 622-2960
