Utah Real Estate Market Trends - Salt Lake City Home & Condo Trends | Housing Market Pulse
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Utah Real Estate Market Pulse 

 

 

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The New Real Estate Market Incentives

On July 30, 2008, President Bush signed into law a bipartisan housing stimulus package. With passage of this new bill, first-time home buyers, including those who have not owned a home in the last three years will be eligible for a significant tax credit. The credit is up to 10 percent of the home’s purchase price. The maximum allowance is capped at $7,500 for a married or unmarried couple who jointly purchase the home or $3,750 for those who file separately.

The tax credit applies to homes purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009.

More of this federal housing incentive....

 

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The Top Real Estate Market in the U.S.

A fairly strong argument can be made that Utah's real estate market currently leads the country.  Salt Lake City has been ranked by Forbes as the #1 city in the U.S. for home bargains and #3 for home sellers. CNBC ranked Utah #3 for business while the ALEC ranked Utah at #1 for economic outlook. Lastly, the Beacon Hill Institute ranked Utah as the most economically competitive state in the nation.

Utah appears to be in a pretty good position to weather the current national economic and housing storms.

 

More of this Utah housing market trend....

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Top Real Estate Markets in the U.S. - Number of Days on Market

How does Utah stack-up with the the top real estate markets in the country for homes spending the fewest days on the market? In a research study released by Altos Research, the top ten fastest selling markets in the U.S. had homes listed on the market for an average of 81.1 days. The top ten markets with the least average number of days on market in June, 2008 as reported by Altos Research are displayed below:

Rank	Market	Days On Market
1	Austin, TX	72
2	San Francisco, CA	76
3	Portland, OR	79
4	Salt Lake City, UT	79
5	San Jose, CA	82
6	Boston, MA	83
7	Atlanta, GA	84
8	Denver, CO	85
9	Seattle, WA	85
10	Dallas, TX	86

Source: U.S. News and World Report, July 10, 2008.

The chart below displays some key zip codes in Utah and the average days on market for the period April through June. As you can see, Salt Lake City, Bountiful, Holladay, Saratoga Springs, West Valley and Centerville are all better than 66 average days on market. Utah's real estate market is doing rather well in the current "buyer's market". Home sellers in Utah should celebrate.

Rank	Location	Zip Code	Days On Market
1	Holladay	84117	50
2	Salt Lake City	84108	55
3	Salt Lake City	84101	56
4	Saratoga Springs	84045	58
5	Bountiful	84065	58
6	West Valley	84120	60
7	Centerville	84014	65
8	Ogden	84401	66
9	Sandy	84093	71
10	Spanish Fork	84660	74
11	South Jordan	84095	74
12	Provo	84606	80
13	American Fork	84003	85
14	Draper	84020	94
15	Park City	84060	141

Sources: WFRMLS and realestatehomesUtah.com. (Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.)

 

More of this Utah top real estate markets report....

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Top Retirement Cities in the U.S. - Salt Lake City Ranked #5

Salt Lake City is ranked number five in the country for retirement in a metro area. In a study by Forbes magazine, Salt Lake City ranked behind Columbus, OH; Dallas; Minneapolis and Houston. The criteria used for selecting the best retirement cities included affordable housing, low cost of living, medical accessibility and economic growth.

Source:  Maurna Desmond (10/20/08)

 

 

More of this ranking report....

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Utah Real Estate Market Trend Report

 November 10, 2008

Dick Gaylord, president of the National Association of REALTORS^®, recently stopped by to visit Governor Jon Huntsman. During the visit, Gaylord praised Utah’s job market citing that the state created 3,000 new jobs in the past 12 months and 100,000 in the past three years. This occurred while many states are losing jobs. Gaylord states that there is “pent-up demand” that continues to mount up for local housing. “It’s only a matter of time before we see rises in home sales and also in activity in the market. So I think we’re going to see a change in 2009.”  (Dick Gaylord, remarks to Utah Association of REALTORS^®, 10-22-2008)

Smart Money Magazine states that Salt Lake City is in a good position to rebound in the real estate market. Salt Lake was one of the top 25 cities in the country expected to help mend the ailing home market because of Utah’s strong job growth. The magazine cites that “Salt Lake City has a less than 1 percent chance of home prices being lower two years from now than they are today.” (Wall Street Journal, Smart Money Magazine, Brad Reagan and Elizabeth O’Brien, 10-17-2008)

Forbes ranked Midvale, Utah #6 in the country as one of the top suburbs in which to sell a home. The November 6 article cited a study by Altos Research that examined the best markets in the U.S. for selling a home. The criteria for selection included the number of days to sell a home, stability of home prices and inventories. (Forbes, Ten Best Suburbs To Sell A Home, Matt Woolsey, 11-6-2008)

 

Some current real estate market data (sold data includes the past 12-months)

	Salt Lake County	Utah County	Davis County
Current Listings	8,325	4,620	2,308
Median Price	$282,950	$265,000	$264,900
Average Price	$385,596	$354,118	$668,356
Average Market Time	93 days	111 days	97 days
Sold Residential Properties	11,124	4,457	3,451
Median Price	$227,500	$217,000	$215,575
Average Price	$269,093	$250,551	$244,016
Average Market Time	61 days	79 days	69 days

 

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Utah Real Estate Market Trend Report

 December 22, 2008

 

Mortgage Rates

The Federal Reserve Board lowered interest rates last week for home buyers. This should significantly improve home sales, home valuation and the nation’s overall economy. Mortgage rates, averaging 6.3 percent in the third quarter 2008 have now fallen into the 4 percent range in some parts of the country. The average 30 year mortgage rate posted by Freddie Mac is currently 5.19%.

Federal Tax Credit

The National Association of Realtors is asking the government to expand the $7,500 tax credit for first-time home buyers (defined as anyone who has not purchased a home in the past three years) to included all home buyers and to eliminate the credit repayment requirement.

Pending Home Sales

Lawrence Yun, the National Association of Realtors chief economist, stated that the past year data for homes sales is stabilizing. “Despite the turmoil in the economy, the overall level of pending home sales has been remarkably stable over the past year, holding in a generally narrow range,” he said. “We did see a spike in August when mortgage conditions temporarily improved, which underscores two things – there is a pent-up demand, and access to safe, affordable mortgages will bring more buyers into the market.”

 

 

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Utah Real Estate 2008 Market Trends

 January 5, 2009

 

The figures are in for 2008 home and condo sales in Utah. The latest real estate market study conducted by realestatehomesUtah.com, using WFRMLS data found that the average Utah home price is down slightly in 2008 compared with 2007 by an average of 3.5 percent. Single family homes are selling for $10,069 less in 2008 while condos are down an average of $6,583. However, some counties are still showing price increases such as Weber with an average price increase of $5,598 for single family homes and $6,398 for condos.

 Another trend showing a market slow-down is the number of days it takes to sell a home on the market. In 2007, the average number of days a home remained on market until sold was 48. Now it takes an average of 25 days longer to sell for a total of 73 days.

 Conclusions:  Utah home prices are feeling the effects of a national economic downturn, offering current home buyers many bargains on the market. The inventory of homes currently listed on the market will take approximately 11 months to sell. Utah home owners that price their homes competitively with the market should expect two to three months to find a buyer for their home.

 

Full trend report....

 

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Salt Lake City, Utah - The Most Fit City

 January 14, 2009

 

Salt Lake City has been crowned as the most fit city in the U.S. by Men's Fitness Magazine in its annual report of fit cities. The report cited Salt Lake City as having lower obesity and athletic residents who make use of the numerous nearby parks and fitness centers. Salt Lake City's top ranking was followed by Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, Denver and Albuquerque.

 

 

 

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Current Home Buying Stimulus Packages Totaling $14,000

 June 13, 2009

 

The Federal Program - $8,000 Tax Credit & Down Payment

The $8,000 first-time Federal home buyer tax credit keeps getting better. On May 11, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, announced that HUD will provide short-term bridge loans that will allow first-time home buyers to use the federal government's $8,000 tax credit as part of their down payment and closing costs.

The step essentially allows purchasers to get their $8,000 home-buying tax credit at closing rather than waiting until after filing their 2009 taxes. For many potential buyers, the fact that the tax credit couldn't be received until 2010 made it difficult to make a purchase before the Nov. 30 deadline - especially if they planned on using the tax credit as part of their down payment. Under this new program, the $8,000 can be used right at closing.

Details on the Federal Home Buying Stimulus Package….

Utah’s Home Run Grant Program for $6,000

The Utah Home Run Grant Program provides $6,000 to home buyers, purchasing a newly-constructed, never-occupied, primary, single-family residence anywhere in Utah.

Details on Utah's Home Run Grant….

 

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Ogden, Utah Ranks as the Cheapest Place to Live

 July 25, 2009

In a study released by Forbes magazine, Ogden-Clearfield, Utah was rated #1 in the Mountain states for the cheapest metro area to live. The study examined three separate sources to determine rankings. Moody's Economy.com was used for cost-of-living figures. The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo provided home affordability figures. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colorado ranked second.

Four quality-of-life factors were also included in the study. These factors were the violent crime rate, unemployment rate, cultural opportunities, and the average salary for college graduates.

Click here for more Utah Rankings....

 

 

 

 

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 Barry J. Preusz
Realtor^® | Residential Specialist

7090 South Union Park Center, Ste 650
Midvale, Utah 84047

Office: (801) 253-6771

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