Investors
A few quick updates for followers of the Las Vegas real estate scene and real estate in general:
A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that investors who bought homes in the past couple of years have largely decided to hold their properties and enjoy cash flow (Housing Investors Settle into a Holding Pattern, May 20,2014). Instead of treating this as a big trade, buying distressed homes or relatively undervalued homes and selling them after the price increases many cities had experienced in the past couple of years, many investors have decided that they like the cash flow. Yield is still difficult to find in the current economic environment.
In Las Vegas, we are seeing much of the same, with investors enjoying lively cash flows and many are sitting on 20%-50% paper gains in the homes. Clearly, the opportunity to purchases following the popped bubble was a generational chance and those who act have largely been rewarded. Many of the institutional investors are well set up to maintain a disparate portfolio of homes and should see some nice dividends. Some "mom and pop" investors are also happy as landlords despite the operational challenges. At some point we should see some of the mom and pops sell their portfolios for other life requirements but in the meantime we see very little exodus.
Wall Street Journal Article:
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304422704579574383881101394?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304422704579574383881101394.html
Development
As we mentioned last month, development has returned to Las Vegas. Linq is up and running and getting good reviews. Downtown is booming and you can feel the difference. A friday night on east fremont is as vibrant and fun as San Diego's gaslamp. Cocktail culture has come to Las Vegas in some major ways and would make Manhattan bar patrons happy. Several of our team members have visited Downtown Container Park and Veleveteen Rabbit in the Arts District, one of the districts newer bar offerings which also includes Artiface and Bar+Bistro and other entertainment and dining options.
