“Sales are down as record-high prices and elevated mortgage rates have made it unaffordable for many would-be house hunters to buy a place.”
New data reported on by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows that Joe Lombardo’s housing crisis continues to worsen as homeowners in southern Nevada are increasingly falling behind on their mortgages. Nearly 1,290 notices of default were filed in Clark County in the first six months of 2025, up 28% from the same period in 2024.
As Nevada has experienced record highhomelessness, evictions, and housing costs throughout Lombardo’s time in office, Lombardo has consistently and actively made the housing crisis in Nevada worse. He has vetoed affordable housing legislation that would have helped keep rent costs down for vulnerable Nevadans on a fixed income, kept more people in their homes and off the streets, prevented landlords from abusing tenants by cracking down on junk fees, and prevented Wall Street firms from pricing working Nevadans out of home ownership.
The article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal also noted that the upward trend in mortgage defaults is especially concerning given “the valley is dealing with a slump in tourism, the region’s main economic engine” as the “U.S. economy overall has been on a roller coaster of uncertainty this year amid President Donald Trump’s trade wars”. Lombardo notably supports Trump’s tariff agenda that is walloping Nevada’s economy and worsening the housing crisis, even going so far as to say that Nevadans needed to ‘feel a little pain’ from Trump’s tariffs.
Read more below:
Las Vegas Review-Journal: More Las Vegas homeowners falling behind on payments, report says
Key points:
- Southern Nevada homeowners are increasingly falling behind on their mortgage, a new report shows.
- Nearly 1,290 notices of default were filed in Clark County in the first six months of this year, up 28 percent from the same period last year, according to UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate. Single-family houses comprised the majority of default notices this year (1,035), followed by townhomes (133) and condos (83). Nearly 200 default notices were filed in June, up almost 32 percent from the same month last year, according to the center.
- Nicholas Irwin, research director for the Lied Center, said that while the number of defaults is still low by historical standards, this upward trend is concerning, especially considering the valley is dealing with a slump in tourism, the region’s main economic engine. He also noted that Las Vegas’ unemployment rate is higher than the national average and said that there may be some “turbulent times ahead” for the local economy.
- In the housing market, sales are down as record-high prices and elevated mortgage rates have made it unaffordable for many would-be house hunters to buy a place. The U.S. economy overall has been on a roller coaster of uncertainty this year amid President Donald Trump’s trade wars. Irwin said the second half of 2025 is probably going to give everyone a good indication of the actual impact of Trump’s tariffs, which could boost prices for businesses and consumers alike.
- Irwin said that he will be eagerly looking at economic outpost numbers and consumer sentiment surveys “as we start to get a handle on the economic damage created by the tariffs.”
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