Insane in the Desert: Building new houses in a city where nearly 10,000 brand new houses sit empty

[marmar]

Building Is Booming in a City of Empty Houses
By DAVID STREITFELD

Published: May 15, 2010


LAS VEGAS — In a plastic tent under a glorious desert sky, Richard Lee preached the gospel of the second chance.

The chance to make money on the next housing boom “is like it’s never been,” Mr. Lee, a real estate promoter, assured a crowd of agents, investors and bankers. “We’re going to come back like you’ve never seen us before.”

Home prices in Las Vegas are down by 60 percent from 2006 in one of the steepest descents in modern times. There are 9,517 spanking new houses sitting empty. An additional 5,600 homes were repossessed by lenders in the first three months of this year and could soon be for sale.

Yet builders here are putting up 1,100 homes, and they are frantically buying lots for even more.

Las Vegas is trying to recover by building what it does not need. It is an unlikely pattern being repeated in many of the areas where the housing crash was most severe. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/business/16builder.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me