Home sales have stalled, and rents are softening at once, an unusual pairing that changes how Las Vegas owners should play the months ahead.
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If you own rental property in Las Vegas, the headlines about a cooling housing market probably have you wondering what to do with yours. Let me start with the reassurance.
Whatever this is, it isn’t 2008. We’re heading into some kind of housing recession, though it’s probably nothing as bad as that collapse. For a rental owner, that points to a fairly clear decision.
Selling now means selling into weakness. Home sales have slowed to a level the country hasn’t seen in decades. Buyers are sitting on the sidelines, and sellers mostly aren’t dropping their prices, so values have gone flat rather than falling.
Part of that, I think, comes from sellers holding out for numbers the market won’t pay. Governments across the country have also made it tougher and tougher to build, which keeps supply restricted. Either way, unless you’re prepared to hand over a lot of concessions, this isn’t the moment to list a property.
People who aren’t buying will rent. Every buyer who stays out of the market still needs a place to live, and that demand flows straight into rentals. Holding your property and keeping it leased puts you on the right side of that shift. My advice to any owner right now is to stay in the rental market.
Rents are softening too. Normally, a weak sales market props rents up, so seeing both cool at the same time is unusual. I think a couple of things are behind it. COVID and the crazy stretch our economy went through forced rents to skyrocket, and some of what we’re seeing now is a necessary correction of that over-inflation.
Inflation is the other piece. With the cost of goods climbing, people have gotten much more mindful about making every dollar stretch, which pulls on what they’re willing to pay in rent.
"People always need a place to live. If they’re not buying, they’re renting."
The holidays stretch out vacancies. Few people want to move between Halloween and New Year’s, and February tends to stay quiet before things pick back up in March. Right now, we have more vacancies than usual, and some of our homes are sitting longer than I’m comfortable with. I’m sure you feel the same.
We keep working the process, which right now means move-in specials, price reductions, and fast follow-up so we catch every lead quickly. These homes will rent, but it takes some creative maneuvering to get there in a season like this.
Reasonable expectations are how you get past a stretch like this, and you’ve been through enough peaks and valleys with me to have them. I appreciate you continuing to trust us with your properties during a harder season.
If you’d like to re-evaluate your rents or talk through whether a move-in special fits your property, let’s get into the specifics. Call me at 725-220-4747, email me at info@griplv.com, or visit griplv.com. We’ll build the right plan for your rentals heading into the new year.