Salt Lake City Real Estate Blog

December 2011 Salt Lake Real Estate Market Update

Mark — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:04:20 +0000

Month on month average sales prices for Salt Lake County real estate ticked up in December 2011. The average sale price was $220,708, up from $216,413 in November. Compared to Dec. 2011 prices declined 4.25%. The number homes sold hit a 4 year high for December, with 897 homes sold.

Total Sales 849
Average Sale Price $220,708
Average Sq. Ft. 2,492
Price Per Sq. Feet $88
Days on Market 129

Nov. 2011 Salt Lake Housing Market Update

Mark — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:22:55 +0000

The average sales price for a home in Salt Lake County was $216,163 in November 2011. This was a drop of 0.26% compared to last month and 10.84% compared to November 2010. Despite November being a seasonally slow time of year, there were 849 homes sold, an increase of 13.05% from last year. The average price per square foot fell to $87.81.

While we are seeing stronger Salt Lake home sales, year on year prices are still dropping, even if at a lower rate than declines seen over the past few years. In fact since Feb this year, prices have remained around the same level, which continue to provide some reassurances that we may have seen the worst of the housing market.

Total Sales 849
Average Sale Price $216,163
Average Sq. Ft. 2,438
Price Per Sq. Feet $88
Days on Market 121

Salt Lake Named the 6th Most Active Metro Area for New Construction Homes

Mark — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 21:22:10 +0000

The new construction home market has been in decline for some time now, but it is starting to pickup in a few areas. One of those areas is the Salt Lake Metro area which was named the 6th most active metro area for new construction home permits (source Trulia).

In the third quarter there were 2.64 new home permits per 1,000 existing homes in the Salt Lake Metro area. The two best areas were both in Texas, Houston 3.68 permits and Dallas 3.41 permits.

Those areas are that are now recovering are ones that experienced a combination of a milder recession, and a growing population (both things found in Salt Lake).

Even with this recent recovery, home building levels are still only a fraction of those seen in the mid 2000’s.

Utah Best State for Business and Careers Says Forbes

Mark — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:35:11 +0000

Following on from other encouraging Utah business and real estate news, a recent Forbes study says that for the second year running ‘Utah is the No. 1 State for Business and Careers ’.

Fueled by companies like Home Depot, Goldman Sachs and Boeing expanding their presence within the state, Utah is producing strong business growth and a declining unemployment rate. Companies are attracted by Utah’s low energy costs, attractive corporate tax rate and high number of young well educated people.

Technology companies seem to be particularly attracted to the area, with Oracle, Adobe, eBay and Electronic Arts all expanding into Utah over the last few years.

Oct. 2011 Salt Lake County Home Sales

Mark — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:30:19 +0000

Salt Lake County home sales rose sharply in October 2011, with 971 homes sold compared to 737 in October 2010. While the number of sales was well up, the average sale price continued to struggle, dropping from $243,588.63 to $216,563.16 in the last 12 months. Homes were selling faster; the number of days it took to sell a home continued its downward trend falling to 116 days, the best level seen since May 2010.

With Salt Lake home sales up, and prices over the last several months appearing to stabilize, there are some signs we are starting to see the bottom on the market. Having said that only time will tell if this is the bottom, or just a pause on the way down.

Total Sales 971
Average Sale Price $216,563.16
Average Sq. Ft. 2,411
Price Per Sq. Feet $89
Days on Market 116

Builder Magazine Predicts Bright Future for Salt Lake Housing Market

Mark — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:12:50 +0000

A recent article in the Builder Magazine predicts a bright 2012 for the Salt Lake City Housing Market. They teamed up with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence to produce their list of healthiest housing markets in the United States. The list was compiled using various criteria including the local employment market, population growth, and income growth. The resulting list saw Salt Lake coming in at the 3rd healthiest housing market in the country, with a projected 4.7 percent price increase in 2012.

This data backs up what we have recently been seeing in the housing market, with this years home prices stabilizing, the rental market tightening and the number of home sales greatly increasing. We are certainly busier than we have been for a while, only time will tell if this translates into home price appreciation in 2012.

Sep 2011 Home Sales for Salt Lake County

Mark — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 02:53:23 +0000

September 2011 was another decent month for Salt Lake Utah Home Sales. While the number of homes sold dipped below the 1,000 mark, the 971 homes sold was still nearly 25% more than the same time last year. The average sales price was $223,043, down 14% from last year, but up from the $219,678 seen last month. The average time taken to sell a home was 118 days, which is an improvement from the 123 days seen last year.

Total Sales 971
Average Sale Price $223,043.90
Average Sq. Ft. 2,442
Price Per Sq. Feet $91
Days on Market 118

Salt Lake Housing Subdivision Maps

Mark — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:02:13 +0000

Just a quick post to tell you about a new feature I have added to our main website. I have developed a number of maps detailing the location of subdivisions within Salt Lake County. At the moment these are limited to subdivisions located with South Jordan, Sandy, Bountiful, Draper and Holladay, but new ones will be added over the next few weeks/months.

The maps are developed using Google Maps V3, which provides some really useful features. If you zoom far enough into the map, local establishments such as coffee shops and restaurants are displayed on the map. You can also perform a search for establishments by using the search box located to the top left of the map. Lastly you can switch to street view by dragging the person shaped icon onto a map location.

Keep your eyes out for more cities to be added over the coming weeks.

Oct-14-2011 – just finished adding West Jordan map

Nov-15-2011 – added Midvale and Kaysville

Why This Fourth Quarter May Not be the Worst Time to Sell Your Home

Mark — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:07:09 +0000

In the fourth quarter of the year the housing market slows and can cause some sellers to worry if their home hasn’t sold yet, but there is still time to sell.

People typically want to buy a home before the school year starts and the holiday season begins but that does not mean it is a bad time to sell.

In fact, there are some key factors that may help sell your home towards the back end of the year. First while there are fewer buyers, those that are out there tend to be more serious. With this in mind sellers should make the most of any showings, stage their home well and treat each one has a serious selling opportunity.

If you are a buyer, then the fourth quarter maybe an excellent time to look for a new home. Not only is there less competition from other buyers, those sellers that are out there are more serious about wanting to sell.

Because of the current historically low interest rates, this fourth quarter may well see more buyers than normal. Buyers maybe more eager to take advantage of these rates and lock into them while they can, even if it means a move during the holiday season.

Salt Lake County Home Sales Data August 2011

Mark — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 03:36:38 +0000

There were some good pointers in the latest Salt Lake County housing sales data for August 2011. First of all the number of homes sold topped the 1000 mark for the forth month in a row. There were 1,086 homes sold, that’s an increase of 38.52% from Aug 2010, and an increase of 7.12% from last month. The other positive data was the Average Days on Market (amount of time it takes to sell a home), which dropped to 81, the lowest level seen since Mar 2010.

Helping to boost home sales this summer was a rebound in Utah’s job market, which over the past 12 months has added 30,000 new jobs, a nearly 3 percent increase, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

More jobs means more people able / wanting to buy a home.

Total Sales 1,086
Average List Price $226,218
Average Sale Price $219,684
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,479
Price Per Sq. Feet $89
Days on Market 81

You can read this post about Salt Lake County August 2011 Housing Sales and other posts on my real estate blog.