The Las Vegas Valley vacant land market continues to witness a shift in landowners as prices decline. For the first time in several quarters, traditional arms-length transactions outpaced lender-involved acquisitions. Sales volumes jumped significantly during the past three months to 744.9 acres, a level not seen since the first quarter of 2007.


Excluding resort property, prices slipped during the second quarter as the price per acre fell to $154,700, or $3.55 per square foot, a decline of 15.2 percent over the previous quarter (Q1 2010). Pricing for non-resort properties remained down 39.4 percent compared to the same period a year ago (Q2 2009). Current values suggest that from peak-to-present (Q4 2007 to Q2 2010), nonresort land prices have depreciated by 83.5 percent. The decline is attributed to oversupply of residential and commercial product, while the mix of properties being sold has also shifted. Approximately 68.0 percent of the acreage transferred during the quarter did so through a traditional sale, a turn in direction from the previous quarter, when nearly 74.4 percent of property that changed hands involved a trustee or lender.

A single resort corridor transaction occurred during the second quarter of 2010 at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. The 2.16-acre parcel was sold by Clark County for $25,000,000 to BPS Partners LLC. At $265.70 per square foot ($11.6 million per acre), this transaction represents a significant premium. Media reports at the time of the sale suggested a Walgreens is programmed to anchor a 100,000-square-foot retail center planned for the site, which is within walking distance of CityCenter.