"There's a broad demographic of people buying in this market," says Bea Goodwin, president of the Las Vegas High Rise and Condo Association.
"It varies from project to project. With Allure, you have local, white-collar casino industry workers with a lot of money buying units."
But in general, Goodwin says, the majority of local luxury condo buyers are married couples without children, and retirees aren't as large a contingent as expected: "We have a lot of baby-boomers. We also have a lot of entrepreneurs and people who can work from home, like salespeople, lots of Southern Californians and plenty of second-home buyers." The Weekly looked at a few projects to sample, randomly, who's buying:
Allure: Sahara Avenue just west of Las Vegas Boulevard
25 percent: Amount using their properties as a primary residence.
50 percent: Amount using their properties as second and third homes.
25 percent: Amount using their properties as investment vehicles.
30 to 50: Age range of the buyers.
$100,000: Average annual income for a majority of the buyers.
Who are the buyers? Financial consultants; entrepreneurs; people affiliated with World Market Center.
Where do they come from? Southern California, New York, Florida.
Where do the overseas buyers come from? Mostly Latin America.
Pinnacle: Tropicana and Cameron Avenues
Ron Snyder is managing director of Rise Realty, the exclusive brokerage for Pinnacle, and he declined to reveal property demographics. But he says, "We see the greatest opportunity among aging baby-boomers, empty-nesters, people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who seek an active lifestyle. We're going after people with significant discretionary income. The vast majority of our buyers are outside the local marketplace. We do have primary owners and those who are buying units as a second, third or vacation home, and a small percentage who are looking on it as an investment opportunity."
Trump International: The Strip just north of Spring Mountain Road
1,200: Number of people who've bought units.
35 percent: Amount of buyers from in town.
35 percent: Amount of buyers living in California.
30 percent: Amount of buyers living elsewhere in the United States and overseas.
Buying in Trump International made sense, says local real-estate investor Al Thomas, because the units have the potential to make dollars.
"You're talking about a return on your cash, fast equity and the ability to use the property as a hotel room and make money," says Thomas, who moved here 10 years ago from Northern California. "There are lots of projects I get called on and could've gotten involved with, but I choose not to. Half of these projects won't go up. Trump's will not only go up, but will go up with class. Anything Trump's done has drawn high-net-worth individuals. I'm very enthused about this purchase. I tried to get as many as I could, and I'm trying to get into [Trump properties] in Hawaii and Dubai."
W Las Vegas: Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane
50 percent: Buyers who are single.
50 percent: Buyers who are married.
Half: Married buyers who have children.
Age range: 80 percent of buyers between 35 and 50.
$250,000: Average annual income of buyers.
Who are the buyers? Says Elliot Karathanasis, senior vice president of sales and marketing: "They're generally entrepreneurs. But there are also a fair number of athletes. Speculators and pure investors are no longer in the market like they used to be because the days of huge appreciation are gone. Our customer is someone familiar with the W brand, who likes Vegas, who comes to town an average of 14 to 21 days a year and who, when not in town, wants the residence put back in the rental supply to make money. Lots of buyers have property leased to other properties." Where do they come from? California (40 percent), Nevada (30 percent).