How is 2023 Starting Off?

January is typically a slower month for closed real estate transactions. But the numbers can still provide a trend insight. January 2023 produced 306 closed single family homes including condos in Clark County. The median price was $490,000 and the average a bit higher at $543,000. For review, the median is the halfway point so half sold for less and half sold for more than the median. Average is a classic mathematical formula add up all the sales and dived by the number of sales. Because there is a lot more room at the top of the range locally the average tends to be higher than the median.

Roughly 100 homes sold between $400-$500k and another 100 between $500-$750k. That is a the meat of the local market with about 2/3 of transactions falling that range $400-$750k. 

Compared to last year, January 2022 numbers were 507 closed units with a median price of $493,000 and an average of $553,000. As I have been reporting over the last year, values seem to be holding steady and the numbers bear that out. What has dropped is the volume of transactions. We only closed 60% as many transactions this past January as the prior year. The difference between the two years isn't o much demand as it is interest rates. Rates were comfy in the 3's in January 2022 where they were a more average 6's last month. Fewer buyers qualified to purchase in 2023 than last year, plain and simple.

So as of this first month's data, the sky is not falling and neither are prices. $490k vs. $493k is akin to a rounding error. What is happening in the market is buyers are not willing to pay large amounts over asking price unless the house is priced ridiculously low. Buyers are more sensitive to price in this current market, but they will pull the proverbial trigger on a well priced home. In fact they did just that 306 times last month.

I'll be watching the trends closely during March and April as these are the months that tend to set the tone for the local market during the late spring and summer peak season. I'm a cautious bull on Real Estate for Q2, 2023.