Pulte Homes slashes prices in Las Vegas

I went to a surprise birthday party last weekend in Las Vegas for a college buddy from my ASU days. During the visit, my friend and his wife told me Pulte-Del Webb had recently lowered their new home prices 5 to 25 percent in Las Vegas and recent buyers were furious. I was shocked! I hadn't heard anything about it.

After a little internet research back in Phoenix, it turns out my friends were exactly right about Las Vegas.

"... Pulte Homes, has cut its new home prices by 5 percent to 25 percent..."

"King paid $498,000 for the house, which he bought as an investment. The same model now lists for $382,990 after costing as much as $516,990 in June." Las Vegas Review Journal

"One Pulte home originally priced at $593,000 had been reduced to $425,000 and one home in Sun City Anthem was reduced from $656,000 to $499,000." Las Vegas Review Journal

Read both articles.

It's reported that in Sun City Aliante, Del Webb reduced the base price of houses by approximately $80,000, or 25%. Yikes!

Other Las Vegas home builders dropped their prices 3 percent to 5 percent in October.

Another report states Pulte's Las Vegas cancellation rates skyrocketed to 75% in September compared to an industry average of 25%. The high cancellation rate in September was followed by the October price slashing.

Man, how would you like to have bought a new Pulte or Del Webb home (Del Webb is part of Pulte) in Las Vegas in the last few months? If you bought a year ago, you would be golden but if you bought last summer...

The experts stress that this is a Vegas-only phenomenon. It also seems Pulte-Del Webb was the worst offender in Las Vegas overpricing. What the heck was Pulte thinking?!

The Las Vegas resale market has also slowed, to say the least.

In addition, high home prices have gotta hurt the long term economic development prospects for Las Vegas. Low cost homes used to be a top attraction for California businesses to relocate to Las Vegas. See articles here and here .

Arizona is in an entirely different situation. Valley median MLS sale prices increased only 13 percent in the last year while Las Vegas prices had increased over 50 percent.

By the way, my Vegas friends say they sold their three rental homes in June, just two weeks before the market topped out.

October 21, 2004

Be careful. Comparing sale prices from two months can be misleading. For example, price changes between April 2003 and April 2004 can be very different compared to price changes between May 2003 and May 2004. You should also look at price trends over many months using quarterly and annual comparisons.

CLICK HERE to see the newest Arizona real estate price graphs. Then click "read more" to see full report with graphs.

Archive of Arizona Real Estate Reports

Phoenix real estate market at a glance - Updated May 19, 2006

Arizona home prices - Graphs - Updated June 9, 2006

Arizona home prices - Table - Updated June 9, 2006

Archive of Arizona Real Estate Reports