Foreclosure Las Vegas Blog

Economy at a Glance - November 2008

How is Las Vegas doing?  With all of the economic gloom and doom, we need to hit the pause button for a minute and see what the numbers really say about the Las Vegas Economy.

Housing & Real Estate
Existing home closings continued to rise in October and were more than double the closings from October 2007.

Prices on existing homes did drop, but only slightly to $184,000. Existing home inventory is well below last year with 21,130 available listings - an estimated seven month supply.

SalesTraq

Tourism
Visitors to Las Vegas totaled more than 2.9 million in September. Although that represents a 10.1% decrease over 2007, year-to-date numbers are down only 2.5%.

Tourist occupied room nights are up 5% for the year.
Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority

AAA announced its latest Five Diamond Award® winners. Las Vegas is second only to Chicago in number of Five Diamond restaurants.

• Restaurant Guy Savoy in Caesars Palace
• Picasso in Bellagio
• Le Cirque in Bellagio
  
• Alex in Wynn Las Vegas
• Joël Robuchon at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino

Five local hotels also received this coveted award

• The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino
  
• Skylofts at MGM Grand Hotel
• Wynn Las Vegas
• Bellagio
• Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas

The Michelin Guide Las Vegas awarded Joël Robuchon its highest honors with three stars in its 2009 edition. Alex, Restaurant Guy Savoy and Picasso were each awarded two stars.

Retail

Taxable goods sold in Nevada increased 3.1% to $4.05 billion in August, primarily due to the governor's tax amnesty program. Without the amnesty program, sales would have declined 3.6%.
Nevada Department of Taxation

Air Traffic
The total passenger count at McCarran in September was 3.37 million, down 13.2% over last year.

Despite air traffic declines, numbers for international scheduled flights at Terminal 2 are up 5.7% for the year.
Clark County Department of Aviation

Business & Employment
Unemployment in Nevada was 7.6% in October, with the rate in Las Vegas slightly lower at 7.5%. The total labor force in the Las Vegas market has increased 5.4% since last year, and total employment is up 2.6%.
Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation

Gaming
Statewide gaming win totaled just over $1 billion in September, down 5.4%.

Clark County numbers declined 2.9% to $853.5 million, the highest monthly total since March.
Nevada Gaming Control Board

Population & Market Growth
More than 5,600 new movers came to Clark County in October.

Although the county's population decreased by about 10,000 people in the past year to 1,986,146, Clark County is expected to see a 54% growth rate in the next twenty years.
Department of Motor Vehicles, Clark County, & Nevada State Demographer's Office