Is the slump over for condo sales in Las Vegas? Having been designated as one of the leading foreclosure cities in the United States several times this last year, sales are edging up and prices holding steady.

The Las Vegas Sun reports condo sales were up in July by 18 percent compared to the same time as a year ago. Buyers seem to be moving off the sidelines as prices have slipped 31 percent over the last year. Nevertheless, buyers want to live and own in Las Vegas. The number of homes sold between May and July for the Las Vegas area is up 28 percent, according to Trulia.com, a home sale data tracking site.

Buyers may be moving in today for higher gains predicted in the future. National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun recently labeled Las Vegas as one of the markets which will increase gains between 10 and 50 percent over the next five years.

The local economy is setting up for bigger growth in the next four years from jobs created in the hotel-resort industry -- upwards to nearly 100,000 more positions by 2012, according to numbers from Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.

Published: August 18, 2008

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Mr. Carr is an award-winning real estate broker in Northern Virginia and authored "Real Estate Investing Made Simple: a commonsense approach to building wealth." He also contributed to Donald Trump’s book, "The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received," and is an active trainer and coach of top producers in the Washington DC market. As a sought-after expert on real estate, Mr. Carr has been featured on CNN, various broadcast outlets and was the former real estate editor for The Washington Times. He accepts questions at his blog www.RealEstateOlogy.org.