The state’s unemployment rate continued to pull away from the national rate in June, which remained at 5.5 percent, according to a report released today by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation.

The unemployment rate in Las Vegas Valley was a bit higher than the state’s average, standing at 6.5%. The area shed 6,200 jobs in June and for the first time since 2002, year-over-year growth declined for four consecutive months.

Two factors were cited as reasons for the increase in the rate. They included recent disappointing gaming revenue, and more people re-entering the workforce in order to cope with rising prices of things like fuel and food.

The only sliver lining in today’s report - make that gold lining - was that in mining areas, such as Elko and White Pine counties, the unemployment rate remained below 5 percent thanks to the fact that gold prices remain near their historic highs.

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported that the year’s trend of increasing home sales combined with falling prices continued in April. Again, to no one’s surprise, the driver of these trends is the fact that more than half of all homes sold last month were either bank-owned or short sales. The median price of a single family home fell 3 percent from March to April, and is down a whopping 22.7 percent from April of 2007.

Lead by short sales and foreclosures, home sales rose 35 percent last month, extending the upward swing to three months according to the March real estate report released today by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. On a yearly basis, sales are off nearly 8 percent from March of 2007. The median price of homes continued to decline, and now stands at $243,000, down 1.4 percent from February and down 20.3 percent from March of 2007.

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Intuit, the maker of the popular tax software “Turbo Tax”, released a list of the “Top Ten Tax Procrastinating Cities in America” which shows Las Vegas ranks 8th. We were number 11 last year.So who makes the most last minute trips to the post office on April 15th? Chicago.

While the January report looked like an indication that tourism traffic may be softening, the February numbers at McCarran airport helped ease fears that Las Vegas blew that fear out of the water. Passenger traffic in MCarran rose 3.2 percent from February 2007 to February of this year, with over 3.5 million people arriving and departing Las Vegas. The February surge put the city back on track for passenger growth for the year, albeit a small 0.2 percent increase for the year to date. All eyes will be on the March numbers to see of the growth can continue.Read the entire report: McCarrans’ February Passenger Report (pdf)

This, according to a new U.S. Census Bureau report. The growth measure was based on the actual number of people moving into metro areas, not on percentage terms - by that count, Las Vegas did not crack the top ten. The report says that the Las Vegas Metro’s population increased by 59,165 people from July 2006 to July 2007. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro added the most people, growing by 162,250 people.You can find the complete report here: http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/011671.html 

The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported Monday that home sales increased by nearly 12 percent in February, marking a two-month streak in sales growth.But dig deeper, and you’ll find what is likely driving the sales growth: continued fire sale prices. The medium home price fell again in February, albeit slightly (1.4 percent), driven by a large number of short-sales and banks frantically dropping prices on foreclosed homes. (more…)

Nevada’s employment rate stood 0.6 percent higher than the national average and a full point higher than January of 2007. The numbers, which were released in the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation’s monthly employment report, showed that areas outside of Las Vegas were particularly hard hit. The unemployment rate in the Reno-Sparks area shot up to 6.6 percent, and to 7.5 percent in Carson City.

As expected, the construction sector took another beating, losing 4,600 jobs, falling behind retail, which lost 4,700 jobs after the holiday shopping season. Government jobs were hardest hit, with 5,700 fewer state workers in January.

It seems that the Strip, while not completely immune, is doing its best to weather the current economic downturn, according the a report released today by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.  Impacting the numbers was a decrease in the number of rooms available to fill, due in part to the closing of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. Overall, Las Vegas January visitor volume fell by 0.6-percent. This modest decrease came despite the fact that convention attendance was down over 100,000 people, or -13.1 percent.

Gaming revenue on the strip was down by about $8 million, and was down 4.1-percent for Clark County as a whole. The county-wide visitor numbers were dragged down by softness in Boulder City, Laughlin and Mesquite. However, there was one bright spot for casino operators in Mesquite, as although visitor volume wasd down 5.4 percent, those who did make the trip appeared to spend more per-capita. The city’s gross gaming revenue rose 25.9-percent to just over $13 million.

A year-end look at the housing market in and around Las Vegas is telling property owners what many already knew.

Home Builders Research says new home sales were down more than 45 percent for the year, compared with the boom in 2006. Existing home sales were just as weak. They were down almost 41 percent.

Northern Nevada home builders are cutting jobs and inventory to survive the coming year and slumping housing market. Perry DiLoreto, a Damonte Ranch developer in south Reno, said he is not building a single house and is waiting until buyers are more confident about their jobs and housing prices and are ready to buy.

Nationwide, home construction starts in 2007 dropped 24.8 percent, the largest decline in 27 years.

- From the Associated Press