As the real estate market squeezes out potential home buyers in Southern Nevada, many are facing a greater challenge, true affordable housing. There’s a concerning shortage that continues to expand.

In most presidential election years, home prices aren’t a key issue for voters or a major campaign talking point. Consider it another way in which the 2024 election is anything but typical. With mortgage rates up and home prices out of reach for many first-time buyers, the affordability crisis is increasingly in the spotlight as campaign season heats up.

Condo and townhome prices in Southern Nevada reached an all-time high in April 2024. Single-family homes have priced many out of the market as well. Experts said the cost is driven up by a myriad of things including low inventory and cash investors.

The Affordable Connectivity Program connected more than 23 million low-income households to the Internet at the height of the pandemic, but now, the ACP is running out of cash and coming to an end.

According to figures from the Las Vegas Realtors trade group, the median price for an existing home in Southern Nevada is $465,000, up 9% from the same time a year ago and nearing an all-time high of $482,000. As high as our home prices here seem, Stephen Miller, a professor of economics at UNLV, says homes are actually a bargain here compared to many other cities in the western United States.

Just as international migration soared in other states, it dropped precipitously in Nevada. Clark County, home to the tourist-magnet city of Las Vegas, saw a decrease of 58%, the biggest among counties where a half-million or more people live, Census Bureau figures show.