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.

There was some encouraging Salt Lake County home sales data for July 2011, with the number of homes sold rising over 34% year on year, increasing from 744 to 1,002.

While the number of Salt Lake UT Homes sold was up, home prices over the last year were down 14% with the average sales price for a home being $223,942. Month on month the average price per square ft. ticked up to $92 per square ft.

The average amount of time taken to sell a home was 86 days, which while higher than last month, is down from the peak of 98 days seen earlier this year.

Looking forward, August 2011 sales are also looking good, with sales set to be somewhat higher than those seen last year.

Total Sales 1,002
Average List Price $231,235
Average Sale Price $223,942
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,432
Price Per Sq. Feet $92
Days on Market 86

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

I have been asking myself this question for some time now and still cannot think of any reason, why banks can not let people who are underwater with their mortgage refinance their loan. I don’t mean the people who cannot pay or are not paying their mortgage, I am talking about people who pay their mortgage every month, but would dearly love to refinance into today’s low rates. According to a CNBC report currently 23% of all mortgages are underwater, so the potential for refinancing is quite considerable.

Now obviously there would have to be some restrictions, and rules.

1. The borrower must refinance with the same mortgage company where they currently have their loan. After all banks are unlikely to want to take on other banks underwater loans, and I can’t blame them for that.
2. The borrower cannot refinance for more than their current loan amount.
3. The bank must offer the same interest rates regardless of if the customer is underwater or not (obviously credit score etc still comes into play).

If we did let people refinance, what would be the benefits? As far I can see it would have two major benefits.

1. Free up extra money for the consumer, which would be an immediate stimulus for the U.S. economy.
2. Provide more incentive/make it easier for people to stay in their homes, reducing the number of short sales and foreclosures.

On the down side (if there is one), the extra stimulus could potentially be too much, driving up inflation too fast, and overheating the economy (although somehow I doubt it).

Now obviously this idea will not be popular with banks, but after all that has happened maybe the banks need to give a little bit back to society.

You can find the original post Allowing Underwater Mortgages to Refinance on my Salt Lake Real Estate Blog.

While the number of homes sold increased 10.99% from Jan to Feb, home prices continue to struggle in the Salt Lake County housing market. The average sales price dropped from $243,717 to $214,125 over the last 12 months, and the average price per square foot dropped below $90 for the first time since April 2005. The average days on market (number of days it takes to sell a Salt Lake County home) stayed steady at 96.

Total Sales 626
Average List Price $220,927
Average Sale Price $214,125
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,426
Price Per Sq. Feet $88
Days on Market 96

You can read this post about Salt Lake County Housing Market Stats and other posts on my real estate blog.

November 2010 saw a total of 727 homes sold in Salt Lake County. This was a slight increase of 0.41% over the previous month but a large drop of 35.09% compared to the previous year. On the bright side the average sales price saw a modest increase of 4.18% to $242,628 compared to November 2009. One discouraging stat was the decline of the average price per square foot, which dropped to $94, the lowest seen since August 2005.

Total Sales 727
Average List Price $249,814
Average Sale Price $242,628
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,577
Price Per Sq. Feet $94
Days on Market 90

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

The number of foreclosed homes being bought and sold in Utah is falling significantly, a new RealtyTrac report indicated.

In Utah, foreclosed homes accounted for just over 20 percent homes sold during the third quarter, with the avarage sales prices of properties that sold while in some stage of foreclosure was 3 percent below the average home sales price. This compares to 25% of homes at a national level, sold at a 32% discounted price.

The relativly low discounted price of foreclosed homes is a sign of the stabilizing Utah housing market.

The number of Utah homes in some stage of forcloser fell 30% from the previous quarter and 21% from the same time last year.

At the end of this year’s third quarter, the percent of Utah loans that had been foreclosed (bank-owned) fell to 3.23 percent, down from 3.35 percent in the second quarter.

Foreclosures had been climbing in Utah for the past three years — since the third quarter of 2007 when the rate was at 0.66 percent. Utah’s foreclosure rate peaked in the first quarter of 2010 at 3.43 percent, according to the MBA report. Since then, Utah’s foreclosure rate has steadily fallen over the past two quarters.

You can read this post about Utah Home Foreclosures and other posts on my real estate blog.

December saw the median home price rise to the highest level seen since January 2009. The new median home price of $264,398 was a 6.27% increase over Novembers price, and is further evidence that the worst of the housing market may well be behind us. The number of homes sold did decrease month on month, but this is normal for this time of year, and was still a 15% increase over last January’s total. The average size of a home sold continued to climb, and is now at the highest level for a year.

Total Sales 511
Average List Price $273,277
Average Sale Price $264,398
Sale Vs List 97%
Average Sq. Ft. 2,619
Price Per Sq. Feet $101
Days on Market 88

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

Just a quick note to let you know that the Utah Governor recently announced they will use $8 million in federal stimulus funds to reintroduce the Home Run Grant.

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.

The real estate industry standard for determining how a market is performing is the median home price or in some places the average home price. You hear it everywhere, median home price falls in first quarter, median home price for Salt Lake City is… But is the median home price a true indicator of how a market is performing, or would we be better off using something else, for instance the price per square ft.

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.

In a recent study by the Utah Association of Realtors, when people were asked what are the top three challenges in the Utah Housing Market, the number one response was ‘lack of housing affordability’. Second was the ‘current state of the economy’ and third was ‘difficulty in getting a loan’.

The question is, is this perception of lack of housing affordability real, or is it more based on what people get used to, rather than actually facts. Let’s take gas prices as an example. When gas was $4.00 a gallon people believed that gas was outrageous, when it dropped to $3,00 it seemed cheap, and now it is back down to $1.50 or so, its really cheap. But gas prices are just back to the prices we saw 4 years ago. Therefore, what was the norm 4 years ago is now seen as really cheap.

Other interesting findings were that 69 percent said they believed ‘buying a home in Utah at this time was a good investment’ (this seems to contradict the housing affordability answer), and 61% of people said that ‘the Utah real estate market was healthier than in other states’.