current construction is a lagging indicator. the permits and financing were approved years before. a better economic indicator is how many new casinos/resorts are entering planning stages now? not many.
Las Vegas: Recession resistant? Casino owners will always be wealthy, but they are too few. Most people living in Las Vegas (the city, not the casino area) are just low-paid hotel employees, or plain hookers. They just don't have high incomes like those in other large US cities. Besides the climate is too harsh (A/C at noon, heating at night), so people have even less money to spend.
Coming from LA? Think about it....ok, I'll clue you in. She's a high priced stripper. Comes to Vegas on the weekends, then heads back to LA. Believe or not, she's debt free, pays al in cash, always had, always will. Somebodt should let her know she has 2, maybe 3 years tops left before she and old hag. The new, younger crop is waiting in lines to fill her shoes.
"Even the people still coming to Las Vegas are spending less. Julia Lee, 27, of Los Angeles said she normally brings $10,000 on her trips here to play blackjack. As Ms. Lee picked up show tickets the other night, she said she had brought less than half that on this trip. âMy parents are in real estate, and weâre worried,â she said." HAHAHAHAHAHA. This lady is in real estate and usually brings 10 grand with her on Las Vegas trips. However, due to housing depression she has only brought 5k on this trip in order to cut back. Does this make any sense at all? Your worried about the economy and your job revolves around housing which is sinking quick therefore you go on a trip to las vegas spending 5 grand...
Yes. I can easily plan a trip through Europe staying at semi-decent hotels partying for two weeks and bring it in under 5 grand. Its amazing the idiots who go to vegas to throw money at the tables and for what? What do you get? You see the inside of a nice hotel room with flashing lights and sounds in the middle of a desert.
Las Vegas might have been affected, but there are other places which have not yet been, with Oklahoma City, Okla, leading among the others. Please have a look at the below thread for more information: http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/105019/America's-Recession-Proof-Cities;_ylt=AjuJKVrwxNFyqu4iQPbP8zi7YWsA
Not nearly the doom and gloom that some think. Sure, things are a lot slower, but with median house prices at $200K and valet parkers and dealers making $75000+ (small by NYC standards) but if you divide the income into the price a 2500 square foot house, much better than many major cities. We've had a lot of years of excess prosperity, and I admit that we are not immune from the recession (as with past recessions) this time. However, nowhere near the California meltdowns ( so many friends buried in houses, and not just "flippers"). We do have one of the highest foreclosure rates, and the speculators are starting to snatch them up. Anyway, a little more room for me at the blackjack tables. LOL. Don
I have to laugh at the fools who think Las Vegas is Recession proof, I have heard this for quite sometime and totally disagree. Also heard another funny story, a friend of mine who was getting back into the commercial side of real estate said it was recession proof as well, I told him you keep thinking that as bankruptcies continue to rise on the business end.