Las Vegas is the biggest city in Nevada and really needs no introduction. With incredible casinos and entertainment, most people only associate Las Vegas with gambling. There is much more to this city in the sun, which is why it is one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In fact, the population is now more than half a million people and everyone move to Las Vegas from somewhere else.
The average Las Vegas property sells for about $170,000, a discount of roughly $10,000 compared to the national average. Even with this discounted average cost, appreciation is still a robust eight percent and expected to pick back up in the future as more people move to the city.
How many people are expected to become residents of Las Vegas in the next few years? Yearly job growth is expected to be massive, which means demand for workers high. This makes Las Vegas an incredibly attractive location for many Americans and the city is preparing with massive expansion to the west and construction sites popping up everywhere. Throw in the fact that there is no income tax in Nevada and you have a real estate market that can't help but get red hot again.
The City of Las Vegas offers just about anything you could possibly need. Shaking off a rather torrid reputation, the city has made a major effort to become family friendly. The days of mobsters and such are clearly over.
This transformation has resulted in Las Vegas becoming a mature city. Schools in Las Vegas rate about even with national averages, but are improving rapidly as the state spends more than twice the national average on them. Health costs are slightly more than the national average, but numbers tend to be inflated since the city has become a hotbed for retirees.
The weather in Las Vegas is more than a bit toasty. While you can get the occasional cool day in the winter, spring, summer and fall are going to be hot with temperatures over 100 degrees many days. Put another way, all properties have some form of air conditioning. If they don't, skip them!
To summarize, Las Vegas is exploding in size and is expected to continue doing so for at least the next four years. This means the real estate market is going to continue to cook.
