HispanicBusiness

Las Vegas, Nev.-area home prices should continue increasing through the end of the year, a real estate data tracking firm reported Tuesday.

After struggling during the recession with steep price declines, the Las Vegas area saw prices increase 4.7 percent from the first quarter of this year through the second quarter, Clear Capital reported.

The Truckee, Calif., firm said Las Vegas-area prices are expected to rise 9.3 percent by the end of the year.

That ranks Las Vegas No. 3 on the Clear Capital projected price-appreciation list, behind Seattle and Phoenix.

A slowdown in banks putting foreclosed homes on the market helped push Las Vegas-area prices up in June, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reported separately.

The Realtors said the median single-family price was $131,785, up 3 percent from $128,000 in May and up 5.9 percent from a year ago. This was the fifth consecutive month that median home prices increased locally, the Realtors said.

They said that with the tightening supply of homes, condominiums and townhomes for sale, sales fell to 3,945 units in June. Single-family home sales fell 5.8 percent from May and 11.4 percent from June 2011, the GLVAR reported.

Nationwide, prices were up 1.7 percent on a quarter-to-quarter basis and are expected to rise another 1.7 percent through the end of the year, Clear Capital said.

"June home price trends provided further evidence that housing has turned the corner, with the momentum of the recovery picking up speed," Alex Villacorta, director of research and analytics at Clear Capital, said in a statement.

"The current strength in housing fundamentals remains vulnerable to domestic and global economic challenges," Villacorta cautioned.