Vegas home sale profits drop, still above pre-pandemic levels
Dana Gentry
(Nevada Current) Nevada home sellers are holding their own in this buyers’ market, reaping profits slightly above the national average. They’re also holding on to their properties longer before putting them up for sale, in keeping with a nationwide trend.
Las Vegas home sellers saw a median profit of 53% in the third quarter of this year, down from 59.6% a year ago. The typical Las Vegas home sold in the third quarter had been owned for about eight and a half years, according to a new report from ATTOM, a real estate data analyst.
Seller gains in Southern Nevada topped out in the second quarter of 2022 at 81.8%, based on transactions going back to 2008. Profit margins are based on the difference between the purchase and resale price.
The median sale price of a home sold in Reno in the third quarter was $548,000, down from $555,000 in the second quarter, and down from $577,570 a year ago.
Profit margins in Reno peaked in the second quarter of 2022 at 88.5%.
Reno homeowners who sold in the third quarter earned a median profit of 54.8%, down from 68.1% a year ago. The typical homeowner in Reno owned their property for approximately nine and half years.
Homeowners in the U.S. made a median profit of 49.9% on homes and condos sold during the third quarter. That’s down from 55.4% a year ago, according to the report.
The median sale price of a home in the U.S. in the third quarter was $370,000, up 1.2% from the second quarter and up 3.4% from last year.
The median sale price in Las Vegas, according to ATTOM, was $445,000, down from $449,000 last quarter, but up from $440,000 a year ago.
U.S. homeowners are keeping their properties longer before putting them up for sale.
“Owners had held homes sold in the third quarter of 2025 for an average of 8.39 years before selling them, the longest average homeownership tenure in at least 25 years and up from 8.13 years for homes sold in the previous quarter,” the report says.
Among metropolitan areas with populations above 1 million, the largest average profit margins last quarter were in San Jose, CA (94.3%); Seattle, WA (80.2%); Buffalo, NY (80%); Rochester, NY (77.3%); and Hartford, CT (75%).
The lowest average profit margins among the biggest metro areas were New Orleans, LA (19.6%); San Antonio, TX (22.8%); Houston, TX (30%); Austin, TX (31.8%); and Dallas, TX (33.5%).
Profit margins are still above pre-pandemic levels, according to ATTOM’s data.
“Prior to 2020, home sellers saw profit margins of around 30 percent. As the Covid-19 pandemic induced people in search of more space to leave cities and buy homes, profits doubled to more than 60 percent in mid-2022,” the report says. “The average seller’s return has been dropping steadily since that peak, but over the last three quarters it’s held just below 50 percent.”
Big cities. Bigger prize.
In terms of cash, the typical home sale generated a profit of $123,100, the report says, but notes “large disparities, with sales in the top major urban areas generating 18 times more in profit than those at the other end of the spectrum.”
The west coast swept the category of top large metropolitan areas with the largest raw dollar profits, with San Jose, CA leading the way with $740,500, followed by San Francisco, CA ($450,000); San Diego, CA ($350,000); Los Angeles, CA ($349,500); and Seattle, WA ($325,000).
According to a 2024 Consumer Affairs report, some 158,000 Californians have moved to Nevada since 2020, making up 43% of new residents within the past four years.
Major metros with the smallest raw profits were New Orleans, LA at $41,000, followed by San Antonio, TX ($55,895); Oklahoma City, OK ($63,000); Birmingham, AL ($68,500); and Louisville, KY ($71,000).
While real estate gains “remain below the peak levels reached during the pandemic, recent quarters suggest a more stable, sustainable market environment,” the report said of the national outlook. “Continued buyer demand, bolstered by moderating mortgage rates, may be helping to maintain solid returns for sellers across much of the country.”
Institutional investors not going away
Purchases by institutional investors such as hedge funds made up 6.4% of sales nationwide in the third quarter, down from 7% in the second quarter, but up from 6.1% a year ago. Homes sold to institutional investors accounted for 6.4 percent of all sales nationwide, down from 7 percent in the previous quarter but a slight increase over 6.1 percent in the third quarter of last year.
Texas had the highest proportion of sales to institutional investors at 8.8%, followed by Missouri (8.8 %); Tennessee (8.7%); Indiana (8.4%); and Mississippi (8.4%).
Additionally, Las Vegas was among the five metro areas with the lowest percentage of lender sales. Seattle, WA had the lowest share (0.5% of all sales), followed by Los Angeles, CA (0.6%); Charlotte, NC (0.6%t); Las Vegas (0.6%); and Phoenix, AZ (0.6%).