Some housing markets are heating up despite sinking values.

Mark Andrews, vice-president sales and marketing at the $600 million Clark County Credit Union, said his local Las Vegas market is so hot, "most of the bank-owned properties are gone," and many Vegas deals are limited to short sells.

"About 40% went to out-of-state investors, which means a lot of people in-town bought homes as investments," Andrews said.

Las Vegas-based real estate data firm SalesTraq released April 2009 numbers today, which showed existing home sales up 78% over April 2008 numbers. The 4,198 homes sold last month are the most since June 2006.

However, the April price of an existing Las Vegas home plummeted to its lowest level since 1998, according to SalesTraq. Prices fell nearly $10,000 in April alone to $125,000.

After holding steady at $250,000 for two consecutive months, the Southern California median home price fell to $247,000 in April, San Diego-based MDA DataQuick released today. It marks the region's lowest price since 2002. However, April 2009 sales were up 31% over April 2008.

The Florida Association of Realtors reported last week that Miami first-quarter 2009, single-family home sales were up 72% over last year same period. However, first quarter 2009 home prices fell 38% during that time.

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