Salt Lake City Real Estate Blog

The Salt Lake high-end housing market recently received a boost, when conforming loan limit went up from $417,000 to $729,750 in Salt Lake County, Tooele County, and Summit County.

This increase means that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can now provide loans up to $729,750, which should result in a much-needed boost to the Utah housing market. High-end homes have recently undergone a slowdown, mainly because lenders shutdown the Jumbo Loan market as part of the sub-prime scare. Lenders have since discovered that Jumbo Loans are not the real problem, and are now starting to relax lending requirements. This coupled with the new lending limits should hopefully put some much-needed life into Salt Lake’s high-end real estate market. Many home buyers will now be able to take out a single loan, without the need to take out a jumbo loan, with their high interest rates and down payment requirements.

In addition to Fanny and Freddie raising their limits, FHA loan limits also went up from $364,000 to $729,750, further opening up finance options to home buyers.

To determine how these changes will affect you, we recommend that you seek the advice of a mortgage professional. Alternately, you can post your question here, and we will get a mortgage professional to reply.

The West Bench Condos development is located in Magna Utah and is expected to be complete in the summer of 2008. The development will comprise of 2 buildings, each having 12 units spread over 3 floors. Units comprise of 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and range in size from 1210 sq. ft. (for 1st floor units), to 1265 sq. ft for second and third floor units. Prices start at $139,900 for a second floor unit, $144,900 for a ground floor unit and $149,900 for a third floor unit.

The condos are laid out so that the second and third bedrooms are on the opposite side of the unit to the master suite. The kitchens come with oak cabinetry, a snack bar and a separate dining space.

Outside there is a common area featuring a BBQ / Picnic area with seating and a playground.