Las Vegas could run out of land for new homes by 2032 without federal help, builders say
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Home builders across Southern Nevada are urging action from state and federal lawmakers to solve the Las Vegas Valley’s land shortage before a looming scenario that will worsen the housing crisis: no more land for new homes by 2032.
FOX5 met with the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association ahead of the start of the 2025 Legislative Session for Nevada. The association has been working with the Governor’s Office to add to the supply of affordable housing and even workforce housing, while lobbying for Congress to act and release more land for housing development.
According to a 2022 study from Applied Analysis, at the pace of the Valley’s population growth, new people moving to the Valley and the effort by home builders to fulfill the demand for housing, there will not be any more land for new home construction by 2032.
More than 86% of land across Clark County is owned and managed by federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, the study said.
“If we don’t have the land, we can’t build. It’s supply and demand, and as land becomes more scarce, land prices go up,” said Tina Frias, CEO of the SNHBA. “We have to come together as a community-- between our leadership, between the home building industry, to work together on policy to get us in the right direction. We have to work on land, and quite frankly for me, that’s not an option to have anything otherwise,” Frias said.
A Congressional bill to develop homes on 25,000 acres in Clark County stalled and never made it out of committee. Frias said she hopes state lawmakers take action, this session, to collectively urge Congress to act.
“We need land for our community to thrive. Our elected officials and leadership need to be very strong in that position because they’re representing us in terms of priorities,” Frias said.
More than 2.3 million people live in the Las Vegas Valley, now. UNLV research shows that by 2040, 3.03 million people will live in the Las Vegas Valley.
Governor Joe Lombardo’s office tells FOX5, the Governor will address solutions to the housing crisis and discuss the federal land issue during his State of the State.
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