April 29 (Bloomberg) -- The median home price in the Las Vegas area fell to $144,000 last month, the lowest since 2000, as a rise in foreclosures lowered the value of single-family houses and condominiums, MDA DataQuick said today.

March’s median in the Las Vegas metropolitan region was down 4 percent from the previous month and down 42 percent from a year earlier, the San Diego-based real estate research company said in a statement. The median was last lower in December 2000, when it was $143,000.

Almost 74 percent of all previously owned homes that sold in the Las Vegas area last month had been foreclosed upon in the prior 12 months, MDA DataQuick said. Almost 2,800 foreclosed properties sold in the area last month, said the company.

The decline in prices in the Las Vegas area helped boost sales. A total of 4,268 new and existing single-family houses and condominium units sold in the area last month, up 29 percent from February and up 35 percent from a year earlier, MDA DataQuick said.

MDA DataQuick compiles surveys using county records and supplies real estate information to customers including public agencies, lenders and title companies. It’s a unit of Richmond, British Columbia-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Taub in Los Angeles at dtaub@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 29, 2009 11:48 EDT