Foreclosures are down and home prices have increased in recent months, but that doesn't
mean that Nevada's housing market is on the way to recovery.

According to a Lending Tree Healthiest Housing Index released in late March, Nevada has the highest
loan-to-value ratio - over 110 percent - meaning that the average home has about 10 percent negative equity.

The state also has the highest unemployment rate of 12.3 percent, compared with the national average of
8.5 percent.

The chief economist at Lending Tree, an online marketplace for home loans, said he's already seeing
"regional disparity" in housing recovery around the country.

"Fundamentally, we have to define what recovery is for each state." For some, it's a lower unemployment
rate. For others, it's home price stability or potentially a reduction in delinquency levels, a precursor to
foreclosure expectations."

The Healthiest Housing Index is based on debt-to-income ratio, unemployment rate, home ownership and occupancy rates, past due mortgages, equity asset value, and loan to
value ratio.

Certain elements of the Las Vegas housing market are looking better, some are looking worse, and some are about the same said David Brownell, broker with Keller-Williams Realty. Nearly 4,200 homes were sold in March, and 1,872 of these were under $100,000 he noted.

"Say what you can, it's incredibly affordable. Certainly the 54 percent of people who bought with cash think it's a good buy." Sales are happening, which is good for agents, but talk with sellers and they might not agree because they're stuck $300,000 under water and wondering what to do."

Negative home equity is extremely high in Nevada, about 1.7 times the national average.

Nearly 90 percent of Las Vegas homeowners with a mortgage have less than 30 percent equity, compared with a national average of 58 percent.

CoreLogic reported that 13.3 percent of Nevadans were at least 90 days delinquent on their home payment, compared with 16.7 percent a year ago.