Home sales in the Las Vegas region in June climbed to their highest level since December 2006 as more than two-thirds of all buyers in the resale market continued to snap up foreclosures, according to a new report from real estate researcher “MDA DataQuick”:http://www.dataquick.com. The company reported that about 70 percent of the Las Vegas-area houses and condos that resold in June were foreclosure resales. That figure is up from 59 percent in June 2008. Foreclosure resales peaked in April at 73.7 percent of total resales. MDA DataQuick also reported that the median sale price held steady in June – another hopeful sign for the ailing Las Vegas housing market. Last month marked the second month in a row in which the median price — $135,000 — didn’t drop, as it had for 16 consecutive months prior to May. The figure, though, is down 41.3 percent from a media price of $230,000 a year ago.

Based on MDA DataQuick’s market study, June marked the 15th consecutive month in which sales of existing single-family detached houses rose on a year-over-year basis. Resale condos have seen an annual sales gain for 12 straight months. Sales of newly built homes in Las Vegas remain extraordinarily low however, largely because homebuilders cannot compete with heavily discounted foreclosure resales, MDA DataQuick reported. Last month’s 475 new-home sales rose 30 percent from May but were 49 percent lower than a year ago. MDA DataQuick’s report shows that a total of 5,519 new and resale houses and condos closed escrow in the Las Vegas-Paradise metro area last month, up 21.7 percent from May and up 44.1 percent from a year ago. It was the highest sales total for any month since 5,780 homes sold in December 2006. Looking ahead, MDA DataQuick says the Las Vegas region will still have many foreclosures to burn off, with inventory of distressed property weighing on home prices. In June, lender repossessions spiked, the company said. Nearly 3,600 houses and condos were lost to foreclosure in the metro area, up 54 percent from May and up 34 percent from a year ago. It was the second-highest monthly total since foreclosures began to surge in 2006.