New data show corporate investors own 20% of Las Vegas homes

Critics said corporate investors squeeze supply and drive prices up by taking too many homes off the market and turning them into high-priced rentals.

Sen. Dina Neal, D-North Las Vegas, said first-time homebuyers have a hard time finding affordable options.

“Limiting corporate investors, that’s a part of the larger play of making sure that there is something available that you can purchase and that you’re not competing against a corporate investor,” Neal explained. “So that you can actually achieve the American dream.”

Neal’s bill to limit corporate purchase of homes to 100 per year failed in the state Senate in May, in the face of Republican opposition. Gov. Joe Lombardo did sign a bill to put $133 million into a program to provide loans and grants for housing development and down payment assistance for essential workers.

The issue does not just affect existing housing stock. Neal pointed out she has seen corporate investors snap up whole neighborhoods of newly built homes and convert them to rentals.

“A lot of the pushback from the corporate investors, they were saying, ‘We’re actually trying to offer a plan where they can then buy the home from us,'” Neal recounted. “And I was just like, but who gets the equity while they’re in the process of trying to purchase this home from you?”

A new study from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas found most people in Las Vegas cannot afford to buy a home. The median monthly cost of a mortgage in Las Vegas is almost $3,000. To afford it, a household would have to earn almost $120,000 dollars a year. The median annual household income in the area falls about $40,000 short.

Corporate landlords argued the rentals allow families access to pristine new neighborhoods, even if they do not qualify for a mortgage.

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