All told, 164 parcels totaling 887 acres changed hands in theLas Vegas valley in the first quarter of 2007 at an average priceof $793,700 per acre, according to the report. That's a 13.2%increase in price from the same period one year ago, when 354parcels totaling 1,688 acres changed hands at an average price of$701,000. When premium resort land is excluded from the totals, theyear-over-year first quarter price appreciation jumps to 31.2%,according to the report. The results pale in comparison to fourthquarter of 2006. In that period, 142 parcels totaling 588 acreschanged hands at an average price of $1.24 million per acre, a78.4% increase from the same year-earlier period and 36% higherthan the first quarter of 2007.

"While a significant amount of interest in resort propertiesremains, we have yet to witness the closing of several announcedtransactions that will likely be reflected in our second quarterreport," says AA principal Brian Gordon. "That having been said,non-resort property values appear to have held their ground fromrelatively recent escalations."

Gordon's partner Jeremy Aguero says that more important than theprice appreciation is the decline in the number of transactionsoverall and their growing distance from the Strip. "[Those] areunambiguous indicators of where the market is heading," he says."Infrastructure improvements combined with increasing pricesensitivities make outlying areas an increasingly attractiveoption."