MORE AND MORE PEOPLE BELIEVE IT'S NO SIN TO LIVE IN LAS VEGAS.

Byline: John Handley Chicago Tribune 

Siegfried & Roy are the most famous magicians in this town, which long has been known for its machines that can make your money disappear.

But the greatest magic act of all is taking place along the Las Vegas Strip, right in front of everyone's eyes. Landmarks from faraway places are being plunked down here in the middle of the Nevada desert.

First there was a volcano from the South Seas, then King Arthur's castle, followed by an Egyptian pyramid and then the skyline of New York City. An Italian lake appeared in October, and this year a beach with waves is coming, as well as Venice's St. Mark's Square and the Eiffel Tower.

All these exotic creations represent high-stakes bets by casino/hotel developers, as they build ever more fanciful mega-resorts in a game of one-upmanship. The boom in casino construction, which began a decade ago, not only is transforming the Strip into a street of giant illusions, but also has spawned the highest rate of home building in the nation.

Incredibly, in recent years Las Vegas has become the hottest home-building city in the nation, based on the rate of construction.

Some 20,000 new homes were sold in the Las Vegas Valley last year, according to Dennis Smith, president of Home Builders Research Inc. That was up about 2 percent from 1997.

Smith said Las Vegas job growth is two to three times the national average, while the population has risen 5 percent a year for the past five years. The valley's population is now about 1.2 million.

The Las Vegas housing surge helped Nevada become the nation's fastest-growing state between 1997 and 1998, posting a 4 percent increase, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

``Job growth is the key to new home construction, and the casino industry has been the major source of new jobs,'' Smith said.

The job growth received a major helping hand from such new mega-resorts as the Bellagio, which debuted last fall with 3,025 rooms, at a cost of $1.6 billion, and the 3,700-room Mandalay Bay and the 3,036-room Venetian, each costing $1.2 billion and scheduled to open this spring. The new Aladdin, planned for 2000, also is estimated at $1.2 billion.

``The Strip never looks old,'' observed a waiter at the MGM Grand, and a 30-year resident. ``If casinos start to show their age, they are torn down and replaced by new ones. There's no reverence for old buildings; they're disposable.''

In contrast to the high-priced casinos, homes are a relative bargain. Smith said the median new-housing price was $138,000 in 1998, adding that single-family homes dominated the market with 84 percent of the total.

The bulk of the new residents are migrating from California.

Retirement housing is the fastest-growing segment of the housing market, said Smith.

The National Association of Home Builders predicts Nevada will be the most popular housing market for seniors (those 55 years of age and over) through 2006.

Apparently, the image of Las Vegas as ``Sin City'' - an image that Smith says the city has outgrown - has not slowed growth.

``We have more churches per capita than any other city in the country,'' he noted.

But the racy perception lingers, much as Chicago still has not totally outlived the references to the Al Capone era.

``Our friends thought it was strange that we would want to move to Sin City,'' said Trudy Rimer. She and her husband, Russell, left the Detroit area five years ago and bought at Los Prodas, northwest of downtown.

She listed the major lures of Nevada living: ``No state income tax, corporate tax or inheritance tax. And there are not as many bugs here.''

She and her husband gamble very little, but they have found a way to make the casinos pay off: ``If you sign up for slot cards at the casinos, you are sent free and discount coupons for dinners, hotel rooms and movies.''

Another retired couple said the Las Vegas lifestyle continues to be misunderstood.

``Some people ask why in the world would we want to live in Las Vegas. They must think we live on the Strip,'' said Nancy Scholl. She and her husband, Lloyd, moved from Chicago's western suburbs to Del Webb's Sun City Summerlin development in Las Vegas three years ago.

The suburban ambience of Summerlin bears no resemblance whatsoever to the glitz downtown, which is some 10 miles to the southeast.

Why did they move from the Chicago area?

``It wasn't the cold in Chicago that bothered me, but rather the dreary weather. Even if it's cold here, it's bright and you feel better,'' Nancy Scholl said.

The showy side of Vegas is just fine with some residents, such as Christine Arroyo. Growing up in town, she always wanted to be a model. Eventually, she landed a job in the chorus line of one of the glitzy revues.

``But the pay wasn't enough for all the work,'' she said. She's still a showgirl, but only at special events where she poses for Polaroids with the tourists.

Keith Schwer, a professor of economics at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, said the Las Vegas economy is dominated by the tourism industry, and ``Las Vegas reinvents itself frequently because of the competition between the casinos. Newness is important here.''

As for the future pace of home building, Schwer agrees with Smith that it is linked to casino construction: ``Ten thousand new casino/hotel rooms will be coming on line in '99, and then another 4,000 in 2000. After that, who knows?''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Work on Del Webb's housing development continues 10 miles from the Las Vegas Strip for the growing number of full-time residents.

John Handley/Chicago Tribune

(2) Las Vegas growth has accelerated since this photo was taken in 1991. Casinos provide excitement. But new residents also like the fact that there's no state income tax in Nevada.