Why has the Las Vegas economy fallen so far so fast?

Question

I am curious to know why las vegas has become so affordable, so quickly. Yes I realize revenues must be down for the Casinos... but There still has to be a ton of jobs in that town.. Shouldn't they be one of the most robust economies in the country?

Answer 1

There are several factors.  Less people are driving from CA or close states due to the gas prices.  Airline prices are up and people are taking staycations.  When visitors come they are spending less thus less sales tax to pay for the State infastructure like schools.

Locals are not spending as much due to other increased costs including property tax and food.  So stores are closing like furniture stores, also due to housing market.

Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate in the country, mainly due to people coming from places like CA, buying lots of houses on speck they could not afford, now cannot sell or are losing during bankruptcy.

The unemployment is at 6.8 percent which is up.  Casino are not filling all lower end jobs as they open and they did layoff a large amount of people in upper management.  

There is NO one reason.  And the economy across the nation is not fairing well either.

Vegas is not broke, just going thru another adjustment period.

Answer 2

No, Vegas does not have a ton of jobs.  I am a former Vegas resident with family still in the area. Employers in many sectors are choosing to leave Vegas or eliminate jobs.  My sister in law's employer decided to leave Vegas in Feb. and she is still out of a job. It must also be said that my sister in law is college educated!  The beginning of the fall was 9/11.  Then the sub prime mortgage mess, builders have stopped new construction, people are not relocating because there aren't selling/buying houses. I still own a home in the Vegas Metro area.  The value of my house has gone down almost $100,000. I am fortunate enough to have a tenant. Others' who had to relocate for work aren't so lucky.  Vegas is also a tourist driven town.  When airfare/gas goes up, people visit the indian reservations/Canada  instead of Vegas. Vegas is only affordable if your lucky enough to land a descent paying job and have better than 10% down to buy a foreclosed house!  

Answer 3

Like any tourist city it has been hit big time. The key is disposable income that is used for vacations have dried up. People are more careful with their disposable income or do not have any anymore. No tourist = no income. If no one is coming then the need for employees is not needed. It is the domino effect. This coupled with the fact that fancy expensive new properties have replaced or removed inexpensive affordable vacation properties have helped in the stroking effect that is happening in the city. Each new property is more costly than the previous one. Surprisingly the downtown properties are doing not as bad as the strip properties.