Dive Brief:

• August was a very nice month for home builders in the Las Vegas area as they sold 763 new homes.
• The sales total was 29% higher than August 2012 and it was a high for the year so far.
• Builders also 673 permits last month, up 17% from 2012.

Dive Insight:

More than one observer has remarked that the areas that were slammed the hardest in the recession have had some of the biggest rebounds, and that clearly is the case in Las Vegas, which had been considered a basket case when housing crashed. Perhaps the luck that visitors hope to find in the area's casinos has rubbed off onto the home-building community because along with brisk business in August, the median price of a new home—$266,389—was 31% higher than the year-ago figure.