Utah Ranked 5th Nationally in Foreclosures

Foreclosure numbers in Utah have increased in recent months, and it’s not in a good way. Utah now trails only Nevada, Arizona, California, and Florida as the states in percentage of default borrowers. According to RealtyTrac.com, over the last six months, 1 in every 52 Utah households received a foreclosure notice. In total there were 18,058 Utah homes that received either a notice of default, notice of trustee’s sale, or became a bank owned property.

This is an increase of 33% compared with the first six months of 2009. Foreclosure filings in California and Nevada saw saw a decrease during this time period. Only Idaho Foreclosures saw a bigger increase. If this trend continues, Utah will be even higher in total foreclosure numbers. The increased number of Utah Foreclosures will place downward pressure on Utah Home prices.

Utah County Real Estate Inventory Up – June Sales Down

It looks like the recovery of the real estate market in Utah County, Utah is on hold. The improvement we saw over the past few months look like they were mostly caused by the government stimulus. June home sales were down, list prices dropped, and there is currently more real estate inventory than any other time this year.

Homes sales during June were down by 18.4% compared with June of last year, and were down 7.8% compared with last month. In total, 438 residential homes in Utah County sold.

It doesn’t appear that home sales are going to be improving over the next few months, even though summer is traditionally the strongest season for Utah County Real Estate. The number of under contract homes in Utah County  are down 10.5% compared with last month.

Utah County Real Estate inventory is currently at its highest point of the year. There are currently 4,224 residential homes for sale. At June’s sales pace, this represents an absorption rate of 9.58 months .

Comparing Salt Lake County 2nd Quarter Stats during 2009 and 2010

Salt Lake County Real Estate increased the number of homes sold as a whole when comparing the second quarter of 2009 with 2010.  Price of homes in the Salt Lake Valley have declined though, with median in the low 200s and average in the mid 200s.

Salt Lake County Condos followed a very similar trend as the number sold increased but price of condos in the SL Valley decreased and remain in the 100s.

Bluffdale Utah: Median sold price barely changed at all as the number of Bluffdale homes sold decreased 20%.  While that sounds like a lot, it was only a difference of 6.

Cottonwood Heights Utah: With an increase from 39 to 64, Cottonwood Heights houses sold jumped 64%.  Median price slipped $12,500 and average price decreased $19,869.

Draper Utah: Draper was the opposite of Cottonwood Heights.  Sold Real Estate in Draper declined 17% but both median and average prices increased by about 3%.

Herriman Utah: Herriman was one of the few to see decreases across the board.  Real Estate in Herriman sold at prices of about $10,000 less, yet 34.5% fewer homes sold.

Holladay Utah: While homes sold and average sold price both decreased, median price of Holladay homes increased $28,000.

Kearns Utah: Median sold price went down 3% and average sold price decreased 6%.  The number of homes in Kearns sold increased by 12 units, or 26%.

Magna Utah: Sales numbers didn’t really change much but the number of Magna homes sold jumped 80% from 56 to 101.

Midvale Utah: Sold Real Estate in Midvale practically doubled to 50.  With about twice that many homes currently for sale, inventory is high at 11 months.

Murray Utah: 8 more homes sold but Murray Real Estate saw sales price decline.  Median price was down 5% and average price slipped 13%.

Riverton Utah: Like most other cities in the county, Riverton Real Estate sold more homes but at decreasing prices.  Current prices are in the upper 200s.

Salt Lake City Utah: The capital sold 47 more homes, only causing an increase of 6%.  Salt Lake homes sold for 5.5% less, down to $212,700 from $225,000.

Sandy Utah: Interestingly enough, Sandy homes sold decreased 6%, median price decreased 6%, and average sold price decreased 6% as well.  Inventory is at 6.7 months and there are around 600 homes currently listed.

South Jordan Utah: Median sold price took a big hit, dropping almost $40,000.  That being said, South Jordan homes experience a decent increase in the number of homes sold, up 12%.

Taylorsville Utah: Homes sold at an $11,500 decrease generally but that wasn’t enough to cause sales to rise.  Taylorsville houses sold decreased 13%.

West Jordan Utah: Prices stayed in the low 200s but still decreased by about $10,000.  Besides Salt Lake, more West Jordan homes sold than any other city, increasing 11%.

West Valley Utah: A 7-10% decrease in price allowed West Valley homes sold to increase a welcomed 36%.

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Salt Lake Home Sales Down, Especially for First Time Buyers

The real estate trends for Salt Lake County were much like they were for Davis County real estate during June. Home Sales were way down, but the homes that did sell sold for substantially more than the averages over recent months. Salt Lake home sales were down 15% compared with June 2009, and were down 18% from May. The median sales price during June was $218,000, the highest monthly median sales price in almost a year. This increase in prices isn’t because home values are going up in Salt Lake, but as result of less first time buyer sales. Most of the first time buyers closed prior to June as the tax credit deadline to get under contract was April 30th.

There are also a lot less under contract listings than there were a month ago. There are just 1,369 residential properties under contract in Salt Lake County right now. A month ago we saw 1,602 under contract homes.

Unlike Davis County Real Estate, the number of active home listings in Salt Lake are higher than they were a month ago. There are currently 7728 homes for sale in Salt Lake County. This is the highest inventory level Salt Lake has seen this year.

The signs that the Salt Lake Real Estate market may have bottomed out already appear to be false alarms. It looks like the tax credits merely pushed buyer activity forward, and now we are seeing a tax credit hang over. At June’s home sales pace, Salt Lake has 7.83 months of active real estate.

Davis County Home Sales Down 28%

June was a really slow month for Davis County Real Estate, which is probably the healthiest Utah Real Estate market. There were just 263 residential homes sold compared with 362 during June of last year. This represents a 28% decrease in home sales.

Interestingly enough, the home sales stats show us that there is probably less activity from first time home buyers. Most of the first time buyers who would have purchased a home during June, moved their buying activity up to take advantage of the government home buying incentives. The homes that sold during June were far more expensive than we have see during the previous months. The median sold price was $217,000 and the average sold price of $245,126 was up by nearly 8% from last year, and up 12% compared with last year.

The gap between the list price and sales price of homes during June really narrowed as sold prices increased, and list prices continued to drop. An equal list price and sales price is one sign of a balanced market. The median difference for June was just 3.18%. Now, it’s definitely too early to say that the market really is balanced, especially after such a weak performance in total home sales. During June the number was likely skewed because there just weren’t the normal amount of first time home buyer sales, making the average home sales price higher than what it really is.

The other major factor for balanced real estate, months of inventory, took a step in the wrong direction as a result of the low June home sales. While Davis County real estate inventory slightly declined over the last month, the slow home sales gives Davis County almost 9 months of inventory.

The good news is that real estate inventory did actually go down. Currently, there are 2330 Davis County Homes for Sale, and 434 homes under contract.

Weber County Home Sales Down, Prices Up in June

Home Sales in Weber County Utah were substantially down in June. They were down nearly 19% compared with June of last  year when 286 residential homes sold. Home sales were also down by more than 15% compared with May. The 232 Weber County homes sold during June were more expensive. The median sold price was $163,047, and the average sales price was $188,070, up 6% compared with last June, and up more than 14% from the average sales price in May. The increase in sales price is a good indicator that many of the homes sold during June were by non first time buyers.

Weber County Monthly Home Sales Prices

While the prices of homes sold during June was up, the near term future for Weber County looks like we will see more drops in prices. In the last month, the number of homes for sale in Weber County, Utah has risen from 2,260 homes to 2,311. The list price of the homes for sale in Weber County has dropped. The median list price is currently $169,900. A month ago the median list price was $5,000 more.

In addition, there are significantly fewer homes under contract now than any time this year. There are currently just 338 under contract homes in Weber County Utah.

The amount of active inventory at last months home sales pace is 9.96 months. Home sales look like they will be slower than normal over the next few months, which will lead to a decline in home prices in Weber County.

June Home Sales Good – But Summer Sales in Logan Will Be Down

Cache County home sales for June were pretty good. 105 MLS homes have been reported sold thus far, an improvement of 5.71% compared with June of last year. June home sales numbers weren’t quite as good as May’s numbers, and were down by about 8%.

The average price of home sales in Cache County was substantially up during June compared with the last four months. This is a sign that many of the June home sales were not first time buyers, and were not effected by the home buying tax credits. The average price of Cache County Homes Sold during June was $180,724, with a median price of $161,000.

While home sales for the first half of 2010 were pretty positive, so far, the second half of the year doesn’t happen to look so good. July is traditionally one of the strongest months for home sales. This month, there will probably be less than a hundred Cache County Homes sold. Right now Cache County has just 99 homes under contract. This is less than half the number of under contract homes as there were in May. Only about 70% of Under Contract properties actually close.

Logan Real Estate also has a record high number of listings on the market. Right now there are 883 active residential homes for sale in Cache County Utah. The price of these homes for sale has dropped. The median price of Cache County residential real estate is $189,900 and the average price is $244,129. If buyer activity doesn’t start picking up, we will likely see prices continue to drop this winter.

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Utah Ranks Ninth Nationally for Foreclosures

According to RealtyTrac’s Monthly Foreclosure Report, Utah Ranked 9th Nationally in terms of the percentage of Foreclosure Filings.

In total the state had 833 new Notices of Default, 990 new Notices of Trustee Sales, and 800 New Utah REO Homes. This represents some sort of foreclosure notice from 1 in every 360 properties. The national average is one foreclosure filing for every 400 homes.

The good news is that the rate of total foreclosures was actually down from April by 38.5%, and was down 10.3% compared with May of 2009.

May Home Sales Numbers for Utah County

May Home sales were quite decent for Utah County Real Estate. In total, 475 residential homes have been reported sold thus far. This represents a 15.2% increase over last year.

Home prices in Utah County dropped again during May. It looks like the slight increase, was simply a temporary thing as result of the home buying tax credits. The median price of homes sold in May was $186,500 while the average sold price was just $213,776. These low prices also might be the result of an abnormally high amount of first time buyers who purchased the less expensive Utah County Homes.

Right now Utah County has 4197 homes under contract. At May’s home sales pace, Utah County Real Estate Inventory is also at one of its lowest points in several years at 8.67 months. This level will likely rise in the near future as home sales over the next few months will likely be down. Right now Utah County has 841 listings that are under contract. This is 269 less homes than were under contract a month ago.

May was Best Month for Salt Lake Home Sales in Nearly Three Years!

May was the best month for home sales in Salt Lake County Utah in nearly three years. It was the best month for Salt Lake Real Estate sales since the housing bust hit the Utah Real Estate market. The 1,204 MLS listed homes report sold thus far is the highest since August of 2007. Compared with May of last year, Salt Lake Home Sales were up 17.4%

While the high home sales month is good news, the monthly statistics for Salt Lake Real Estate look drastically different than they did just last month. This is primarily due to the changes in market conditions with the expiring of the home buyer tax credits. Home prices were back down, and inventory was up. The median sales price for Salt Lake Utah Homes was just $200,000. There are also 670 less homes under contract right now than there was a month ago.

For May’s Sales numbers, Salt Lake County has just 6.2 months of active inventory. This is a very healthy supply where prices should remain stable. However, with the large decrease in the number of under contract homes, there is a good chance this number will increase over the next few months. Active Salt Lake Real Estate inventory rose, and there are currently 7,533 homes for Sale in Salt Lake County Utah.