Las Vegas Plans 5 Year Expansion That

Signals Another Building Boom In Development 

Everyone in the nation knows Las Vegas, Nevada is considered the entertainment capital of the world.  Las Vegas real estate has been booming for more than a decade, yet Las Vegas still has room to grow, with 37 percent of land undeveloped in the metropolitan area and further land swaps with BLM eminent. Having just celebrated it’s 100th anniversary in 2005, Las Vegas is poised for another boom in development that will perhaps be greater than any previous expansion experienced to date!    

According to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, The total employment for Las Vegas in 2005, produced 60,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate in January, 2006 in the Las Vegas area was estimated at 3.9% - down from 4.2% a year ago and below the national average of 4.7%.  It is estimated that every new hotel room built creates two and one have jobs in the private sector. 

Las Vegas is already home to 17 of the 20 largest hotels in the world, including 8 of the world’s top 10 largest hotels.  Las Vegas also boosts more hotel rooms than any other city in the world.  In fact Las Vegas has more hotel rooms than Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York combined! According to the American Gaming Association, Las Vegas also has the highest casino gaming revenues in the United States.  The number of major hotel casinos opening opened in the past ten years on the Las Vegas Strip, include Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, theHotel, Wynn Casino and Resort. Bellagio, , New York-New York Hotel and Casino, Paris Las Vegas and The Venetian Casino Resort.  In addition, a number of existing properties on the Las Vegas Strip have expanded during this period, including MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, Luxor Hotel and Casino, Circus Circus Hotel, Casino and Theme Park, and Caesars Palace. Despite the increase in the supply of rooms over the last 10 years, Vegas hotel occupancy rates still average over 90%, making Las Vegas one of the most profitable and highest occupancy rated destinations in the world.

Las Vegas currently has over 133,000 rooms and gaming revenue approaching $9B annually. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority  suggests that over the next 5 years there are hotel construction plans in the works to add an additional 37,000 rooms, a 25% increase and the largest number of rooms in any five-year period in Las Vegas history. The construction boom is seen as more of a continuation of a steady trend rather than an explosion in capacity and there is a good chance that up to a quarter of the new rooms like some condo-hotel projects -- will not be built.  Even if the 9,000 condo-hotel rooms on the planning board are not built, inventory is projected to increase 20 percent between 2005 and 2010 and cost over $20B dollars.