Building Is Booming in a City of Empty Houses

New York Times ^ | 05/15/10 | David Streitfeld

[AngelesCrestHighway]

LAS VEGAS — In a plastic tent under a glorious desert sky, Richard Lee preached the gospel of the second chance. Home prices in Las Vegas are down by 60 percent from 2006 in one of the steepest descents in modern times. There are 9,517 spanking new houses sitting empty. An additional 5,600 homes were repossessed by lenders in the first three months of this year and could soon be for sale. Yet builders here are putting up 1,100 homes, and they are frantically buying lots for even more. Las Vegas is trying to recover by building what it does not need. It is an unlikely pattern being repeated in many of the areas where the housing crash was most severe.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

This is only a gamble...nothing based on real buying power. Notice the only people present were a crowd of agents, investors and bankers. Some people must be sitting on a lot of money and are looking to do anything with it.....rather disgusting.

[jokar]

bump

[JoeSixPack1]

14000+ empty homes and they’re building more! This isn’t even a dice roll, these clowns are shooting straight for bailout money.

[autumnraine]

It’s easy to grab up a bunch of losing investments and then stick your hand out to the government for a guaranteed ‘bailout.’ Heck, there’s no gamble involved, it’s a sure thing! If you make money on the property, good deal. If you lose your shirt, no problem! Uncle Sam will cover your losses.

Unless you are not one of us lowly peasants that is.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

It goes from a gamble to bailout if it fails and we pick up the tab.

[throwback]

It is Vegas. The town's existence is based on the improbable idea that one can beat the house when it has, is, and will never be the case. P.T. Barnum said one was born every minute. Given the population increase that must be down in the nano seconds by now.

[lurk]

China is doing this same thing. Artificially propping up the economy by creating make-work building projects that no one will live in.

[DuncanWaring]

Related:

The Thirteen Housing Markets That Will Never Recover

...12. Las Vegas, NV. Housing prices are down 51% and unemployment is 13.8% ...

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Pipe dreams.....

[DaxtonBrown]

I’m here doing Real Estate in Vegas. My guess is that there are huge false signals beng generated by the propping up of banks and by banks holding shadow inventory in hopes of a rebound. Fortunately I have other means of survival than pure real estate.

[TSgt]

Obamastate for the coming millions of soon to be legalized aliens?

EPIC Section 8?