By Patrick Blennerhassett – Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 28, 2026
Affordability is on the way for Las Vegas Valley residents, according to a new report from Zillow.
The online real estate giant is predicting 2026 will be a year of slower home price growth, rising wages and “gradually” easing mortgage rates which should allow more people to get into the housing market nationally and in the valley.
Zillow is forecasting by the end of the year that Las Vegas homebuyers will have to spend 35.2 percent of their income on a mortgage, down from 36.3 percent at this time last year. Currently, the median home price for a house in the Clark County sits at $425,546, a 1.9 percent drop year-over-year up until the end of 2025.Right now, approximately 62.3 percent of home sales in the county are selling under list price, and Zillow only expects home prices in the county to rise 1.3 percent.
Kara Ng, a senior economist for Zillow, said potential home buyers who were sidelined last year due to high costs and elevated mortgage rates should get some relief this year as the overall U.S. housing market continues to slowly decompress from a roller coaster ride during the pandemic.
“Inventory is up 20 percent (year-over-year), and listings are lingering longer before going pending, both of which improve buyers’ negotiating power,” she said. “However, sellers are catching on and have pulled back, so new inventory is not coming on as fast as last year.”
Multiple forecasts for residential real estate in the Las Vegas Valley have home prices potentially dropping while mortgage rates could slid below 6 percent and stay there. Mortgage rates briefly dipped below 6 percent recently, however Freddie Mac currently has the rate for a 30-year fixed-term at 6.09 percent.
Mortgage rates (dictated by the mortgage bond market and loosely tied to the 10-year Treasury) were put through a bit of turmoil recently, said local mortgage advisor Matt Hennessy, who said one of the biggest issues was geopolitical in nature.
“European markets reacted to escalation of the administration’s stance on Greenland over the weekend,” he said. “New tariff threats were part of the problem, but the most noticeable uptick in trading volume followed news that a Danish pension fund was pulling out of Treasuries.”
Ng said the homebuilding market is also responding to recent market forces across the country as homebuilders are offering price breaks and concessions on new homes at an elevated rate, which she said is also helping with affordability for potential first-time homebuyers, who have essentially been locked out of the housing market since the pandemic.
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at [email protected].