Lady Luck closed over a year ago. The Boardwalk was imploded late last year. The Klondik was shut last year. The Stardust closed and was tour down in January. The New Frontier will close on July 15th and be torn down.  With all these casino closings the number of rooms has actually been shrinking.  Unemployment in Las Vegas actually exceeded the national average by .01%!  My goodness why hasn’t the Press made this into a national crisis!

Other Casinos have changed hands like the Tropicana and laid off 300 workers recently as well.  The residential housing industry has laid off about 10 to 15% of its work force according to the Nevada Dept. of Employment Security.  With all the closings and layoffs it is surprising that Las Vegas doesn’t have a higher Unemployment rate.  What is suprising is that job growth is showing up in all other sectors (excepting residential construction and casino workers).  It looks more and more like Las Vegas is no longer a one industry town.

But for those of you that want to see big gains in employment which means big numbers of housing sales and a stable real estate market, you don’t have long to wait.  According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 40,000 hotel rooms will come on line in Las Vegas between now and 2010 and will require over 70,000 employees.

The first of these properties to open will be the Palazzo towards the end of this year.

Now besides the 40,000 rooms under construction you still need to factor in the following properties:  The “M” casino, Southern Highlands Casino, Tropicana expansion, the new casino on the S.W. corner of the Strip and Sahara, The Maxum Casino, The Plaza (replacing the New Frontier), The Crown Las Vegas (tallest building in the Western Hemisphere), Las Palmas, The project forth coming from Africa-Israel on the old “W” site, and more.  None of these projects have been figured into the 40,000 rooms.

The 40,000 rooms are in properties like, Project City Center, Fontainebleau, Echelon Place, Encore, Plazzo, Cosmopolitan, and expansion at the Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood, MGM Grand, etc..

Add to that all the luxury high-rise condos being built and I think you get the idea that employment opportunities in Las Vegas are going to grow like weeds in the coming years.  The seeds of growth are planted, its going to be fun to see it grow.

Keep in mind that as we again start to grow, you will look back and think “Why didn’t I buy more real estate while the market was soft?”