Real Estate Prices in Nevada rise in May, but market hurt by short sales

The new report on home sales for the Las Vegas market came out this morning (see the report here: http://alanbestbuys.com/id205.html ) but it's pretty clear that prices have a long way to recover.

It also appears that short sales are hurting the market because of current tax benefits. Normally, the loan amount that a bank forgives is taxable income for the seller (homeowner) but the current tax break that expires at the end of this year might make some homeowners take their losses on a short sale without the additional tax burden.

This might have the effect of pushing more homes on the market, and keeping prices low.

It makes me wonder if once this short-sale tax break expires that we could see a drop in homes on the market in the Vegas area and higher prices?

Buyers, on the other hand, have been inundated with news stories about deeply discounted prices for short sale properties – so much so that some buyers insist on being shown short sales instead of traditionally listed properties...