Stability is returning to Nevada’s housing market, according to the February 2014 Report on Nevada’s Housing Market from UNLV’s Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies and the State of Nevada Department of Business & Industry.

While foreclosure and distress sale activity continues to decline, home values have begun to level off from their torrid pace of last year.

The recovery in Nevada’s residential market continues to show signs of stabilization as more traditional home sales emerge. However, average single family prices have begun to decline for new homes, existing homes and distress homes, as of February 2014. These month‐to‐month declines might be reflecting changes to the quality of homes being sold and not necessarily property values. Stakeholders, nevertheless, should keep an eye on property values and the changing market dynamics. Compared to the prior year, new and existing home sales still show double digit increases in average price. Meanwhile, the number of homes available for sale is increasing, residential construction is starting up again, and fewer homeowners are losing their homes to foreclosure.

Residential construction in Southern Nevada increased but the jump was due almost entirely to the restarting of multifamily construction. Total starts rose to 733 in February, up from 556 in January and from 470 a year ago. Multifamily starts were up to 336 from 80 in January and 0 in February 2013. Single-family starts declined by 79 from January and 73 from February 2013, to 397.

Nevada has fallen to 8th in foreclosure inventory and is no longer even in the top 20 states in the country in foreclosure starts. Notices of default have virtually disappeared in Northern Nevada. In Southern Nevada, foreclosure inventory fell again and now is about 1/3 of what it was in mid-2010.