Salt Lake City Real Estate Blog

If you are looking for a place to rent, Salt Lake is an expensive place. Rents went up 8.8% from 2006 to 2007, with a further 6 to 8% rise expected this year. This coupled with a vacancy rate of just 4.5% means tough times for those looking for a rental property. (more…)

These are not my words, they are from a recent article in Forbes Magazine. According to the magazine article, Salt Lake is the sixth most recession proof city in the U.S. This is based on the fact that the city’s unemployment rate is low, that we are still creating jobs and that the housing market remains strong (well at least compared to other cities). (more…)

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.

I have updated our Salt Lake new homes map to incorporate the latest developments and pricing information. This interactive map uses Google Maps functionality to show the location and prices for the major new home builders and developments in Salt Lake County, Davis County, and Utah County. New home prices across the Salt Lake Valley are coming under pressure from the slowdown in the local housing market. Very few builders/developments have increased their prices, with most builders keeping their prices the same or lowering them slightly. Ivory Homes seems to have cut their prices the most, with the majority of developments showing substantial price declines.