The housing bust is over in Las Vegas, local realtors report. "Any ground lost in January and February was quickly recovered in March, the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported. The median price for 2,521 homes sold during the month was $314,950, up 1.9 percent from February and up 6.8 percent from the same month a year ago."

"Prices had dropped for two straight months from $312,000 in December to $309,000 in February, leading some to believe the 'bubble' was starting to pop in Las Vegas."

"'Overall, we continue to see a solid housing market in Las Vegas,' housing analyst Stephen East said, 'but we have a higher level of caution now versus five months ago, given elevated incentives and cancellations, combined with further signs of inconsistency in pricing power.'"

"'We have basically the correction of January and February, which are typically slower months and certainly the market has cooled off, but that's the long and short of it; we're just coming into our spring season,' said Linda Rheinberger of the GLVAR."

"The surge in sales is tempered by a more than 19 percent drop in sales from last March. The number of homes available for sale on the MLS grew 21.8 percent from a year ago to 17,385. Total dollar volume for March home sales was $957.8 million, down 13.5 percent from a year ago."

"For many families in the Valley, home prices are out of reach. The affordable housing crisis will be addressed at a conference Thursday in Henderson. 'It's really bad; apartment vacancy rate is 3-4 percent, the median home has gone up to $300,000, it's out of reach for everybody, so we've really got to buckle down and decide what we're gonna do in the community,' said Ken Lange, Nevada State Education Assistant."

"Michael Colagioia, who wants to move to Southern Nevada from Florida, said he put his house up for sale, but the market is slow there and not many people have looked at the house."

One homebuilder plans to help out. "Pulte Homes will break ground today on Anthem Mesquite, a 2,014-acre master plan about 80 miles north of Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite. Upon its completion, Anthem Mesquite will have 4,600 homes, including 3,400 homes in Sun City Mesquite. Several companies either planning or building communities in Mesquite. City officials estimate that as many as 14,000 new homes will come online in the next 10 years."