Smith, president of HomeBuilders Research, predicts one, two or three big public homebuilders will leave the market or merge, and it's not because of a lack of demand. Instead, Smith blames the shrinking supply of land that became even more of a problem in Las Vegas when national builders cut back on their supply of land across the country.

"It looks like it's difficult for the builders to replace the lots they are absorbing," Smith said. "If a builder stopped buying land six months ago, they didn't stop selling houses. Call any builder and it's difficult for them to find land to buy for two or three years out."

Smith said he's been sounding warnings about the lack of available land for traditional housing development in the Las Vegas Valley. About five ago, he said he suggested there was about a 10- to 12-year supply of land remaining within the Bureau of Land Management disposal boundary for a typical builder to develop a typical single-family subdivision. Today, if a single-family homebuilder is not participating in Summerlin, the Focus Property Group master plans in Henderson and Las Vegas or the new Olympia Group master plan in North Las Vegas, where are they going to go to acquire any large number of lots to position them for the future?, Smith asked.

He added that 2006 was another example of the tight land supply. Some builders mistakenly believed land prices would decline as the demand for housing softened, he said.

"If they expected Las Vegas land prices to decline as a result of this change, they were mistaken," Smith said. "If there was a larger supply of land available, the prices would have decreased. Overall, land prices didn't change much. This is due to the overall short land supply. Builders will again soon begin buying land to maintain or increase lot supplies for future communities."

Some builders have also contacted other builders about their land, Smith said. As for Centex Homes, which in January pulled out of a deal to build homes in Henderson, Smith said he wouldn't be surprised if the builder started looking for land again in the coming months.

Sky Las Vegas: Clark County commissioners decided to delay a Feb. 7 vote and give residents of the Sky Las Vegas high-rise a chance to talk with the developers of the Maxim high-rise and casino project next door to them on Las Vegas Boulevard. The residents and developer were scheduled to meet Feb. 15 ahead of a Feb. 21 vote by commissioners. Sky residents are concerned that granting variances to Maxim will cast shadows on their condo tower and block views they expected.

Home appreciation: According to Zillow.com, the Las Vegas Valley recorded a slight depreciation of 1.11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 when compared with October 2005 through December 2005. Las Vegas closed the year with homes appreciating 0.77 percent over 2005, the company reported.

Office development: Jayne Cayton, a senior associate of CB Richard Ellis, said that while some office parks are opening up closer to residential areas, most of these new businesses already have offices that are closer to town. The areas that are seeing the most growth in office space are the northwest and southwest submarkets where tenants such as attorneys, title companies, insurance companies and professional services are opening up second offices.

"The growth of these companies is prompted by the expansion of the gaming industry, said Bob Boykin, a senior vice president of Crescent Real Estate. "Law firms and accounting firms and other companies that provide services to the gaming industry are growing to take care of the expanding client base, he said.

Construction industry: Ken Simonson, chief economist of the Associated General Contractors of America, said the latest statistics show that non-residential construction jobs jumped in January but homebuilder employment continues to drop. In January, construction accounted for one of every five new jobs that weren't farm-related, Simonson said.

Over the past year, nonresidential building contractors and specialty trades have boosted employment by 5 percent.

"A further favorable omen for nonresidential construction is that architectural and engineering employment rose more than 5 percent in the past year," Simonson said. "That should further translate into additional construction work in the next several months. I expect several nonresidential categories to do especially well this year, particularly energy and power-related construction, hospitals, hotels and resorts."

Residential building and specialty trades employment dropped in January to bring the year-over-year decline to 84,000 jobs, Simonson said.

"I expect homebuilders will continue to shrink for most of 2007 until they see a marked upturn in home sales," Simonson said.

Construction wages rose 4.5 percent in the past year. That reflects a changing mix of construction jobs, away from lower-skilled homebuilder and remodeling to skilled nonresidential crafts, he said. In addition, it shows that contractors are ratcheting up pay to find the workers they need, he added.

Projects in the news: Glen Smith & Glen Development has named UPA Group general contractor for its Sullivan Square community. The groundbreaking is scheduled in late spring for the project, a 16.5-acre mixed-use community in southwest Las Vegas. The project will have about 1,300 residential units in addition to commercial and retail development.

Qualitect LLC said construction is expected to be completed by late summer on its Luxe Lofts project on West Flamingo Road near El Capitan. The three-story development will include 83 luxury condominiums in a gated community. The homes range in size from 1,225 to 2,518 square feet.