Times are tough for the housing industry in Southern Nevada and the rest of the country, but the chief executives of two national homebuilders said they expect the opening of resorts on the Strip in 2008 and 2009 to fuel the resurgence of the Las Vegas housing market.

Steve Hilton, chairman and chief executive of Meritage Homes, said Las Vegas is a "tough market" at this time, but the addition of tens of thousands of jobs over the next 24 months will help it bounce back quicker than other locales such as California.

"Unfortunately, we had a correction in the market, but Vegas is one of the best markets in the country long term," Hilton said. "We are committed to Las Vegas ... There are a lot of jobs coming to the market and if you look at all the casinos going up and the people that have to come to Vegas to fill those jobs, they are going to need a place to live."

Hilton and other home construction executives were in Las Vegas last week for a housing conference sponsored by Big Builder magazine.

Hilton is more optimistic than most in the industry about a turnaround and expects to see improvement by spring.

"I don't have a crystal ball, but I think the worst is behind us," Hilton said.

The conference's crowd, however, said a lot about the state of the housing industry. Attendance was down about a third from last year as the industry has culled staff and cut travel expenses for the remaining employees.

Last week, conference organizers pointed out there was a much different tone from the event a year ago. Many speakers in 2006 talked about a soft landing, only to go through a hard landing shortly thereafter.

The mood was much more somber this year.

Jeff Mezger, president and chief executive of KB Home, one of the leading homebuilders in Las Vegas, was reluctant to put a date on a recovery, but suggested Las Vegas will be one of regions that regains its footing quickly because of its job growth.

"It is really hard to pin a date and say when it is going to happen," Mezger said. "The inventory has to get back in balance, and there is a little too much resale ... The market has tremendous potential once inventory gets back down."

Builders have done a good job of holding down the inventory of new homes, and prices have fallen to the point where they are more affordable, Mezger said.

He said he thinks there is pent-up demand in Las Vegas that will help absorb resale inventory quickly. Resale homes are the builder's biggest competitor because many new home prices are below existing home prices, he said.

In some markets there is a more than two-year supply, and the signal of a recovery in any market is when that inventory decreases and approaches six months, he said.

KB, which owns almost half of the Inspirada master-planned community in Henderson, is in a good position when the market rebounds because it will have available lots, Mezger said.

KB Home and Toll Bros. are already selling in Inspirada, but Meritage has curtailed construction there pending a revision to its model homes. Hilton said that work should begin in the next 45 days and should be completed by spring.

The design changes are intended to lower prices and make homes more affordable in the new urbanism community, Hilton said.

"We were not happy with the original plan and needed a product with more value," Hilton said. "We went back to the drawing board and drew up a better plan suited to today's market.

"I think you will continue to see a drive toward affordability. You are not going to see as much higher-end or luxury product built here as in the past."

The reason is easy credit that allowed people to afford higher-end homes isn't available, Hilton said.

As long as they have money for a down payment, financing is available for lower-priced homes, the executives said. They acknowledged the mortgage correction is good for the industry for the long term.

The cut in prices reduced profits, but halting construction isn't an option, Hilton said. Builders need the revenue to pay employees and lenders, he said.

The home construction executives lamented their practices and training when the housing market was going well and profits were high.

Mezger said 80 percent of his management team had never been through a downturn, and they "froze like deer in the headlights." He cited the Las Vegas team as one that hadn't seen a downturn.

"The challenge is to get out of the box and do it differently because you have done it one way so long," Mezger said. "If you do it that way, you are going to fail, and we are not going to fail."

Hilton said his company went from $150 million in sales in 1997 to $3.5 billion by 2006 and didn't have the internal structure in place to deal with that growth.

It's about becoming a better builder and making sure that the company isn't drawing up designs that are draining profits, he said.

Mezger said it's important that builders focus on homes that are built to order and allow the customer to make choices.