HispanicBusiness

With investors gobbling up cheap homes and turning them into rentals, Las Vegas has become one of the top "sellers' markets" in the country.

The Las Vegas Valley is the fourth-best U.S. metro area to sell a house, according to a report out today from research firm Zillow. San Jose, Calif., ranked No. 1, followed by San Francisco and Sacramento.

Nine of the top 10 sellers' markets were in California, Nevada, Arizona or Washington state. Many of those regions were hit hard by the housing bust and are now buoyed by investors turning foreclosed and non-distressed homes into rentals, Zillow chief economist Stan Humphries said in the report.

The buyers have reduced inventory levels and helped push up prices, especially for cheaper homes, he added.

To compile the rankings, Zillow said it crunched various sets of data: the number of days homes were listed for sale on Zillow, the percentage of homes on the market with a price cut, and sales prices versus asking prices.

In sellers' markets, homes were listed for sale for a shorter period of time, prices were cut less frequently and sales prices were near or greater than their last listing price.

Zillow also ranked the top 10 "buyers' markets," where homes stayed on the market longer and prices were slashed more often. Chicago was No. 1, followed by Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and New York.



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