Coalition forms to address housing affordability

Coalition forms to address housing affordability By Buck Wargo RJNewHomes.Vegas August 21, 2026 - 5:29 pm Leaders from Southern Nevada’s housing, real estate, construction and operations sectors gathered this week for a luncheon hosted by the newly created Southern Nevada Development Coalition at The Orleans. More than 600 attendees participated in discussions covering water resources, development policy, economic growth and housing affordability. Tina Frias, chief executive of the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, and Brian Gordon, principal at Applied Analysis, provided insights on the regional housing market and broader economy. Two panel sessions examined the relationship between land and water resources, regulatory frameworks, affordability challenges and the importance of collaborative action to meet the area’s pressing growth demands. Frias emphasized that the region’s obstacles are intertwined and cannot be solved in isolation. “This is an breathtaking time for america due to the fact that this is the inaugural lawsuit for a conjugation that was founded connected the elemental thought that Southern Nevada is stronger erstwhile our industries are moving together,” Frias said. “Expect this to be conscionable the beginning. Expect aboriginal events, much collaboration, advocacy and argumentation strategy wherever our interests align. Expect america to amusement up together. We judge that moving unneurotic increases our quality to be heard, amended and power bully policy. We privation Southern Nevada to stay a spot wherever families tin afford, businesses tin put and turn and aboriginal generations tin thrive.” Gordon noted that builder confidence has slipped as construction costs rise and mortgage rates remain elevated, prompting a slowdown in new‑home sales and permit activity. “There are a fig of folks waiting for location prices to driblet oregon involvement rates to drop,” Gordon said. “We person not seen this prevail yet, but astatine immoderate constituent these folks are going to get disconnected the sidelines and into the game.” He added that land availability and cost continue to be a concern for Southern Nevada builders, unlike many other parts of the country. “We person seen prices proceed to emergence and not seen monolithic reductions due to the fact that the outgo is continuing to escalate,” Gordon said. “That’s wherefore we’ve seen prices continuing to clasp truthful the folks connected the sideline don’t person a batch of opportunity. Housing affordability is surely a situation crossed the board.” According to Gordon, two‑thirds of Nevada residents cannot afford the median new‑home price, with households falling $36,000 short of the income needed to purchase a home today. “Builders are responding by giving incentives to lure buyers successful and making it financially viable to acquisition properties,” Gordon said. “We person each seen the discounted involvement rates and owe buy‑downs. They are forking hundreds of millions of dollars successful Southern Nevada to bargain down mortgages to get radical into the houses. They are gathering houses to merchantability them. They are going to find a mode to bash that.” He observed that one out of four sales in the housing market involve new homes, with the average first‑time buyer aged 40. Younger buyers are directing spending toward travel and experiences, and when they invest they favor the stock market over home purchases. The Las Vegas Valley consumes roughly 2,300 acres of land each year on average over the past five years. Approximately 80 percent of Nevada’s land is owned or managed by the federal government, limiting development potential. “We are burning done the disposable capableness that exists,” Gordon said. “There are 60,000 acres successful the Southern Nevada municipality country that are vacant today. A batch of these properties are held for different purposes, and erstwhile we portion each of that out, it’s possibly 18,000 acres that is vacant and not publically owned. And radical volition accidental not each of these properties are developable (with the slope or outgo prohibitive).” A primary goal of the coalition is to secure legislative support for making additional federal land available for development in Southern Nevada. “Land availability is not conscionable astir a pricing issue, but it’s an economical improvement issue,” Gordon said. “We request to person the capableness to bring successful much businesses and person much developable opportunities.” Frias agreed that expanding the land supply is essential to increasing housing inventory, noting that builders are evaluating land costs ranging from $1 cardinal to $1.8 cardinal per acre, a factor that drives up home prices. The coalition plans to travel to Washington, D.C., in the coming weeks to meet with the Nevada congressional delegation and advocate for a federal land measure that would release more parcels for development in the Las Vegas area.