Mortgage lenders opening their vaults

Mortgage lenders may not be as slap-happy as they used to be, giving money to basically anyone who wanted a house.

But in the past few years, with the economy mending and the housing market pulling itself out of the dumps, they’ve opened the vaults wider and wider.

More than 36,000 home-purchase loans were issued in the Las Vegas area last year, up 8.5 percent from 2015 and the third consecutive annual increase, according to housing tracker Attom Data Solutions.

Nationally, almost 2.8 million purchase loans were issued last year, down 1.5 percent.

Las Vegas was a poster child for the housing craze and crash, and mortgage lending here collapsed with the economy, dropping from almost 81,000 purchase loans in 2006 to about 24,800 in 2013 — a 69 percent plunge.

Lending fell sharply in other cities as well, but nationally, the drop from a decade ago wasn’t as severe as in Las Vegas. U.S. home-purchase loans fell from 4.1 million in 2006 to a low of 1.9 million in 2011, down 53 percent, according to Attom’s figures.

Mortgage lending wasn’t the only thing that got pummeled harder in Southern Nevada than in other metro areas after the economy tanked. Unemployment, underwater borrowers, foreclosures, bankruptcy filings — however bad it was during the recession, odds are it was even worse here.

The housing market still grapples with lingering problems from the recession but has regained its footing in recent years, with higher home prices, increased construction, big drops in repos and upside-down mortgages, and, as Attom’s findings show, an upswing in lending.

Las Vegas might still be bruised from the housing bust, but at least it doesn’t need a full body cast anymore. PRICEY PAVEMENT

Casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp. leased the land under The Orleans for years, but now it’s shelled out tens of millions to own the pavement.

Boyd recently exercised an option in its ground lease and bought the 77-acre stretch of property underneath the resort for $43 million.

The sale, by The Tiberti Co., closed Feb. 14, Clark County records show.

The Orleans, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave., opened in 1996, and county records indicate it has had a ground lease since it was built. Boyd acquired the off-Strip hotel in 2004 as part of its $1.3 billion acquisition of Coast Casinos.

Boyd Chief Financial Officer Josh LENDERS,