All told, UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate reported in September that Las Vegas’ housing market was “largely unaffordable for much of the local population.”

Las Vegas rents climbed at one of the fastest rates in the country in recent years, a new report shows, as many locals have struggled to keep up with housing costs in Southern Nevada. All told, UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate reported in September that Las Vegas’ housing market was “largely unaffordable for much of the local population.”

What if a gingerbread house could prevent a real home from going into foreclosure? That’s the idea behind a fundraiser by Freed’s Bakery and homebuilder Taylor Morrison. The Build Joy program donates $1,000 for every $55 gingerbread house kit Freed’s sells to HomeFree USA, a Maryland-based, HUD-approved national nonprofit that assists homeowners to prevent foreclosures.

A report by UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate found that corporate investors bought 23% of the listed homes last year in the Las Vegas area. It ranks fourth among the largest U.S. metropolitan areas that report tracked, behind Miami and California cities Anaheim and San Diego.

For the first time in Nevada, a bipartisan supermajority of state lawmakers petitioned to add their own topic to an ongoing special session called by the governor. The issue seen as important enough to cross the aisle over: corporate homeownership. The Lied Center for Real Estate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas estimated investors owned roughly 15% of homes in the City of Las Vegas. That percentage was expected to grow both in Nevada and across the nation.

Investors bought nearly a half-million homes in the Las Vegas Valley since 2009, according to a new report. Investors purchased approximately 492,634 homes since the start of the Great Recession and made up 23 percent of all home purchases in the valley last year, according to the latest report from UNLV’s Lied Center for Real Estate, which uses data from Redfin.