Las Vegas Strip Values – Are they Stratified?

Do real property values continue to increase as you move from the ends or the periphery of the Las Vegas Strip toward its middle? Of course they do, but there are no linear adjustments that an appraiser can apply, and the adjustments made in an appraisal report are subjective. At time there are sales near the center of the Strip, establishing a high value limit and sales at the ends happen periodically establishing a low end.

There are many factors affecting value. Most important to many buyers is gaming. You need to be able to obtain a gaming license at a specific location if that is your ultimate goal. While real property must be approved for gaming, there are approved gaming overlay Districts, it is the Nevada Gaming Commission and the Nevada Gaming Control Board that controls who is approved for a gaming license. So if the land can be used for gaming, securing a gaming license generally does not affect real property value.

Where a property is located on the Strip its frontage makes a big difference in its market value. There are many factors that an appraiser considers. Things like; neighbors, access, visibility, traffic, zoning, planning, McCarran noise / crash zones, the gaming overlay, and building height restrictions.

Do values change on the Las Vegas Strip each block or half black? Do they fall into a “strata” so that you can forecast what a value will be in an area, like between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue?  You can reasonably make that argument, but when you get specific and ask something like, ”Is being across from the Wynn Las Vegas better or worse than being across from Mandalay Bay?” It’s not so simple.  If you are an appraiser and you study things like locational amenities, pedestrian traffic, vehicular traffic and rental rates you can actually answer question like that.

An appraiser can “score” a location based on factors affecting it. Pedestrian traffic is a key factor to scoring a developed property location since most business activity relies on it.  If you are standing for example in the Caesars Forum shops, below the High Roller at the LINQ or on the Strip in front of Paris Las Vegas at each point you have finite pedestrian traffic.  Each specific location also has a number of surrounding economic influences.  Places like casino hotels, non-gaming hotels, retail (Malls) and high-rise condominiums for example can make the location score better or worse than another location.

If you don’t think pedestrian traffic makes that much difference ask New York New York business owners if they do better during Golden Knights NFL Hockey team home games near the T-Mobile arena. You simply can’t get in them, they are all 100% occupied plus there is often an overflow of those willing to wait in the lobbies and in the street.  Even the street vendors have a hard time keeping up with business, and the pedestrian traffic is a substantial benefit their bottom lines.

For real property appraisers the Las Vegas Strip presents challenges that they would not encounter appraising other properties anywhere else in Las Vegas.  Property values are significantly impacted by the fact that the Las Vegas Strip benefits from 40 million plus tourists each year.  You may be able to find commercial land, for example, in Summerlin or Henderson for $ 25 per square foot to build your project on but on the Strip you may not find a property for $ 500 per square foot, and center Strip where the traffic is described as being like that at Times Square in New York City there are those asking $ 18,000 per square foot.

For more appraisal information contact Glenn J. Rigdon MA, MRICS, IFAS, ASA is a Las Vegas / Henderson Nevada based appraiser who can be contacted via email or via his business website known as Appraiser Las Vegas  (http://www.appraiserlasvegas.com), or http://www.horizonvillageappraisal.com, or you can also click on “Contact Us” on the home page of this website or visit my public profile at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/glenn-rigdon-ma-mrics-asa/1a/30b/879/

Article source: http://www.appraisalarticles.com/Real-Property-Appraisal/Las-Vegas-Strip/4727-Las-Vegas-Strip-Values-Are-they-Stratified.html