Looking forward, given current market activity, we should see a nice increase in home sales over the next few months as people rush to claim their home buyer’s tax credit.

Total Sales 964
Average List Price $240,561
Average Sale Price $233,322
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,474
Price Per Sq. Feet $98
Days on Market 80

You can read this post about Salt Lake County Home Prices and other posts on our real estate blog.

Total Sales 622
Average List Price $253,008
Average Sale Price $245,710
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,474
Price Per Sq. Feet $99
Days on Market 87

You can read this post about Salt Lake County Home Prices and other posts on our real estate blog.

Best Performing Single Family Homes Areas
84117 (Holladay) up 3.32%
84105 (Salt Lake City Sugarhouse) down 3.64%
84121 (Cottonwood) down 3.24%
84103 (Salt Lake City Avenues) down 4%

The areas that experienced the largest decrease in median home price were South Jordan 84095, Herriman 84096, and the West Valley City areas 84120, and 84128.

Worst Performing Single Family Home Areas
84095 (South Jordan) down 15.42%
84120 (West Valley City) down 13.16%
84096 (Herriman) down 11.97%
84128 (West Valley City) down 11.41%

Condo prices were all over the place in 2009, depending on where you live, you could have seen either a large increase or decrease in the median home price. Unlike the single family home market multiple zip codes actually experienced median price increases. The best of these were West Valley City 84120, Midvale 84047, and Murray 84107.

Best Performing Areas for Condos
84120 (West Valley City) up 42.92%
84047 (Midvale) up 13.1%
84107 (Murray) up 9.02%
84102 (Salt Lake City) up 4.71%

When we look at the worst performing areas we find that the largest condo market of 84101 (downtown Salt Lake City) performed the worst, declining 30%.

Worst Performing Areas for Condos
84101 (Salt Lake City Downtown) down 30%
84115 (South Salt Lake) down 20.15%
84106 (Salt Lake City) down 14.89%
84096 (Herriman) down 14.78%

See our Salt Lake County Home Prices page for a more detailed breakdown of price changes by zip code.

You can read this Salt Lake County Annual Home Prices post on our Salt Lake Real Estate blog.

One of the worst hit areas was in the neighboring state of Nevada, where 65% of residential properties were underwater.

One reason for Utah’s better than average negative equity rate, was that during the property boom the level of housing speculation was not nearly as great as that seen in other states. This kept our home appreciation at a lower level. It also helps that we have one of the lowest unemployment levels in the U.S.

Data provided by American First CoreLogic.

The official statement said that the state will offer $4,000 grants to the first 2,000 new home buyers.

The program comes on the heels of one started by former Gov. Jon Huntsman, who used $10 million in stimulus funds offer $6,000 grants. These grants were used in less than 12 weeks, so if you are interested in taking advantage of this offer you had better hurry.

There is one major difference between the original grant and this one (apart from the amount). The original grant could only be issued for homes that were ready for occupancy, while the new one can issued for homes which have been contracted for construction, or partially finished and contracted for completion. This changes the focus of the grant from getting rid of new home inventory to building new homes.

Let’s look at a specific example. In June 2007 the Salt Lake County real estate market peaked with a median home price of $234,000, in April 2009 the market hit a low of $211,250, which was a fall of 9.72%.

Now if you are trying to sell your home or if you are in the real estate business you will know that the market has fallen much more than 9.72%, but what can we use to determine the actual market decline? That’s where price per square ft. comes into play.

During a real estate downturn people don’t necessary spend less money buying a home, they just buy a bigger home, or buy in a nicer area. Using this logic if someone purchased a home for $300,000 in April 2009, they would have got a substantially bigger home than if they purchased a home for $300,000 in June 2007. Unlike the median home price, the price per square foot takes into account the size of home and provides a much more actuate indicator to how the market is performing.

If we look at price per square ft. values for June 2007 and April 2009 we find that they went from $130 to $100, a decline of 23.08%, which is much more in line with what we are seeing in the marketplace.

You may ask, if price per square ft is that much better, why are median home prices still used? The answer is probably because people find it easier to relate to a median home price. If you tell someone the price for homes in their area is $130 per square ft, they will almost certainly look at you funny.

Apparently, mortgage loans dropped 95% between July 2008, and August 2008. That’s not a misprint, they dropped 95% in a single month. It gets even scarier when you look deeper into the figures. Home loans are down 98% year on year, with only £143 million in new loans in August. To give you some background the U.K. has a population of approximately 61 million people, and the median home price is £161,000 (approx $290,000).

The U.K. housing market is about 12 to 18 months behind the market in the U.S., so the worse is still to come. So the next time you start to think how bad our market is, just remember there is somewhere that is worse off than we are.

In comparison, the Mortgage Bankers Association released data that said 99% of loans were not in foreclosure (although it should be noted that this data was for the first quarter not July).

All I can say is ‘Lies, Dam Lies and Statistics’, it just goes to show that you can make statistics says whatever you want.

Now, in most places, this might not be an issue. But Utah is a non-disclosure state, which means comparable sales used by appraisers are either in the MLS, or the appraiser might be able to request HUD-1 Settlement Statements if a builder is not using the MLS. In some areas, there are many small builders (and some bigger ones) who do not use the MLS. I think this could become a real issue for appraisers trying to find recent sales in order to calculate a homes value.

Has anyone else heard this and what do you think?