Upscale? So 5 minutes ago

Some used the wide-open lots in the desert to showcase fine architecture and good taste, McCormick said.

Many more did not.

"Just because you're a great entrepreneur doesn't mean you're a great home designer," said McCormick, president of mid-market home builder Astoria Homes.

The housing slump has left Las Vegas strewn with empty houses, and at all price points. There are now more than 22,000 homes for sale here, 51% of them vacant, according to Las Vegas real estate research firm SalesTraq.

That compares with perhaps 15% to 20% in Southern California, said John Burns, an Irvine real estate consultant.

Among high-end homes in Las Vegas, the vacancy rate is actually lower than the overall figure -- about 36% for homes in the $1 million-plus category, SalesTraq said. But experts say that's largely because the lower end of the market is flooded with unsold new tract homes and condos.

The lower end also includes unoccupied houses purchased by flippers, who have let the properties fall into foreclosure because of the soured market.

Some wealthy investors also have an option lesser flippers can't afford: taking their custom-built mansions off the market and moving in.

William Derentz, who heads the company that runs the annual Harvest Festival in Laguna Hills, bought a 5,400-square-foot home in Las Vegas for $2 million in 2004. He never moved in, since he planned to resell it in a year or two at a hoped-for profit of $1 million.

But after the home languished on the market, Derentz threw in the towel in February and relocated his family from Mission Viejo to the house.

He now hopes to sell it when the market recovers, even if that takes several years. Meanwhile, to make the property more competitive, he's spending $200,000 to fix up the backyard of the house, outfitting it with a pool and "his-and-her" cabanas.

"It's going to look like the Bellagio back there," Derentz said. "You've got to make it two cuts above."

--

peter.hong@latimes.com