Foreclosures filings plummeted in November in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada, but analysts are unsure if this marks a trend.

California-based RealtyTrac reported that foreclosure filings in Nevada dropped by double digits for the second consecutive month. The 9,295 filings in November were 33 percent fewer than October, in which filings were 26 percent below September.

November’s filings were also 33 percent below November 2008.

“It has been pretty amazing what we have been seeing in Nevada and Las Vegas in terms of the last two months,” said RealtyTrac spokesman Daren Bloomquist. “It was surprising to us. We didn’t expect to see this trend to continue because so many forces are driving foreclosures. It is still up in the air if this is a temporary reprieve or if it has truly turned. We are going to be watching it closely in the next two months.”

By the way, it’s not just Nevada. Nationally, “[f]oreclosure filings fell by 8% in November, making it the fourth consecutive month of improvement in the housing market. There were 306,627 filings last month, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed properties. That decline follows a 3% drop in October, 4% in September and 1% in August.”

So, housing bears, how’s that “shadow inventory” thesis working out?

The post Tidal wave of foreclosures hits Las Vegas housing market! appeared first on Inflation Watch.

The following experience by a recent Vegas home shopper summarizes what is happening:

“We went to a home that had been on the market for one day, and the key was stolen out of the lock box. Our Realtor said immediately, ‘You want this home.’ She told us another Realtor had stolen the key because they wanted their client to get it. So what did my Realtor do? She broke in. And sure enough this was the home we fell in love with. It was on for $132,000 so we decided to be really aggressive and offered $160,000, plus we had government backing on our loan. Well our Realtor called that night and said, ‘You’re not going to get the home. They got 30 offers and half are cash offers, so the bank is not even going to look at you.’ The banks just want the cash to unload these places.”

Las Vegas may have finally hit rock bottom in its post-bubble wake. As the Federal Reserve promises to keep money extremely cheap through much of 2010, the price response in post-bubble markets like Las Vegas could surprise more to the upside than we might expect.

The post Las Vegas Down to 3-Months Inventory of Homes – and Buyers Are Going Crazy appeared first on Inflation Watch.