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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Las Vegas, NV, United States, 01/13/2009 - Despite the recession, Prudential Americana Group posted 41 % more closings in 2008 than the previous year. The company restructured and remained top in Nevada amid the country's largest recent real estate market decline with high hopes for 2009.
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The final numbers are in and Prudential Americana Group remains the largest real estate company in Nevada with more than double the home closings of its closest competitor. In 2008, the company posted 6,457 home closings, more than a 41 percent increase over the 4,578 closings it completed in 2007. According to Prudential CEO Mark Stark, this is dramatically more than any other broker in town.
“This has been a challenging year for our people and our company in many ways,” said Stark. “I am so proud of all our sales executives and staff. They stepped up to the plate in a very tough environment and truly knocked the ball out of the park. Our organization has embraced the changing environment and our overwhelming success proves it”
The company maintained its position as the number one real estate company in Southern Nevada with 11 percent of all home sales among Realtors in 2008 (source: Nevada Multiple Listing Service--MLS).
According to Stark, the statistics on home sales throughout the year, and particularly in December, signify a healthy unit growth and we look forward to the stabilization of sales prices.
“In December, approximately 77 percent of all homes sold were bank-owned properties, or foreclosures,” he said. “And another three percent were short sales, where banks negotiate with homeowners to reduce the price of the home based on its current value. I see no material change in the first two quarters of 2009 as foreclosed homes will continue to hit the marketplace.”
Among the bright spots in the Las Vegas real estate market last year was the shift in the types of loans that were processed as well as the reduction in overall interest rates.
“In December, approximately 27 percent of Prudential’s home closings were cash buyers,” said Forrest Barbee, corporate broker. “That indicates that the market is undervalued, because cash buyers are typically investors. Investors have begun to snap up the foreclosure homes and will wait for them to regain some value before selling them again.”
In December 2008, 27 percent of home closings in Las Vegas were cash buyers, 34 percent were FHA loans, 32 percent were conventional loans and 7 percent were VA loans.
One other bright spot Stark saw was the overall affordability of homes. “People who thought in the past that home ownership was out of reach have now come to understand that they have a golden opportunity to not only purchase a home, but look forward to long-term appreciation,” he said.
“We are looking forward to the year ahead,” said Stark. “We will continue to focus on our opportunities and develop new programs that make buying and selling as home as easy as possible.”
Among the company’s new programs is a paperless system scheduled to roll out in the spring that allows for a completely paperless transaction with all documents stored in an online data storage center. The system is also expected to reduce Prudential’s paper consumption by approximately 60 percent.
Prudential Americana Group is Nevada’s largest real estate company with more than 1,100 agents and approximately 2,200 current home listings. It is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate affiliates and is the 11th largest in the company’s national network of 677 franchises. For more information or to find a Prudential agent, call 702-796-7777.
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