I was reading on Drudge, that the U-Haul dealers in LV are busy-so many people are moving out, that they have to get special delivery of more trucks.
Part of this is due to the recession…but I wonder if a bigger factor is the relative decline of the LV casinos?
Now that many states have casino gambling, why fly out to Las Vegas?
Is LV likely to be a place that will suffer a permanent population drop?
I wonder if real estate values will drop , enough to make it attarctive as a place to live.
Maybe the odds have changed.
Real estate values in Vegas have been in the crapper for quite some time now.
I suspect that Vegas is taking a pretty big hit in terms of market share. Small time players are likely to patronize their local casinos in areas that have them. Airfare to Vegas is probably more than my typical gambling budget for a casino trip. If I did go, it would be more of a “once in a blue moon” special thing.
The high roller types will probably still love Vegas. It’s pretty much the gambling/party town equivalent of Sinanju.
That said, the casino industry is hurting, at least in my area. They’re laying off dealers, cutting back on comps, cutting back on maintenance, reducing other services…etc. I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least one casino in Tunica go out of business if things don’t improve in the next year or so…
We’ve been hearing this same thing in the valley for about 6-8 months now, but especially since summer hit.
Personally, I hope we do have a huge population drop in the valley. We have way more people here than we need, and have had for quite some time.
Most of the casinos are doing alright. Las Vegas still has enough allure that our visitor counts are alright. Not great, but the casinos aren’t in danger of closing anytime soon, not most of them (Station Casino’s woes notwithstanding).
Real estate has already started to come down, but is still a long ways away from being where it’s going to match up with the wages currently being paid. I really am still not interested in an 1800 sq. ft. home, even if the price is down dramatically from $450,000 to $275,000. It’s still too expensive.
Around here, the Nevada casinos I have frequented (Wendover, Vegas, Reno) are sending more frequent and more generous comp offers than ever before. They may be hurting for business, but they are offering more freebies than any time I can recall in the past…
The current weakness in the casino business is part of the recession. There certainly have been layoffs in that industry although I couldn’t tell you the net gain/loss in that specific industry. With the Encore and City Center projects, gaming has gotten a few jobs back. Cosmopolitan will be hiring some employees as they gear up to open.
But a big part of employment in the area was from housing. Construction, sales, mortgage lending, furniture stores. New residents meant more construction of houses, retail centers. Construction companies coming to town fed more office and industrial construction. Housing was an enormous beast that kept feeding itself. That’s dried up for the most part.
And you aren’t replacing that loss with new residents. Retirees aren’t moving there because they can’t sell their own houses or their retirement accounts are in the toilet. New graduates aren’t sticking around because there aren’t any jobs for them.
Moving to Vegas is a better deal than it used to be, but I wouldn’t go there and buy a house just because it’s cheaper.
Agreed.
Actually, local TV news just mentioned that room bookings are UP this Labor Day Weekend, over last year’s - they expect about 270,000 visitors - good numbers.
Granted, people gamble a bit less now - but still like to go eat, see shows and shop, so for the local economy, the Strip is doing well. I think they said they expect to earn $165 million this weekend, on NON-gaming revenue (rooms, food, shows, shopping etc.).
I’ve heard you can pick up some Vegas condos for dirt cheap now. I know a couple of people that have picked up some property in the area.
I bought a condo this summer as a rental property. One of my friends used to live in a unit around the corner and (lucky for her) she sold when real estate was high and got $181K for it. I bought one just like it (in almost perfect condition) for under $40K.