June Struggles for Logan Utah Home Sales

Maybe Logan isn’t immune from a housing let down? Or, June might have just been a fluke in the natural pattern of real estate sales. Regardless of what is real or not, home sales were down 23% compared to May, and 3% compared to June of last year. Only 91 single family homes and condos were sold.

Up until this point Cache County home sales were among the strongest in Utah. While home sales were down from last year, they were down less than 15%. The last time there was less than 100 homes sold in the month of June was back in 2003.

Cache Valley is usually a step behind Utah Real Estate trends, and while the Salt Lake, Provo, and Davis County real estate struggled substantially more at the beginning of the year these markets appear to be improving. It is possible that Cache Valley Real Estate will experience a substantial decline as well, just a few months later.

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3.5% Price Appreciation for Cache County Real Estate

The first half of 2008 shows that although home sales were down 21% in Cache County, the actual sold price rose 3.5% compared to the first 6 months of 2007.

The average price of sold homes is actually up 3.5% compared to the first six months of ‘07. So far the real estate market in Cache County was a little slower than it was last year as just 470 homes were sold compared to 588 homes sold January-June of last year.

The median sold price so far this year is $179,375. In my opinion, home prices are not actually up, just the average price of homes sold. There are many more expensive homes on the market than beaters. The average list price of homes in Cache County is $272,000. These aren’t selling fast, but when the expensive homes sell it does drive the average sold price up. From my knowledge of the local market, if you bought a home at the end of last summer you could probably now get a slightly nicer home for the same price.

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Northern Utah Home Appreciation Trends

Areas of Utah that appreciated a little too rapidly are now seeing depreciating values for homes sold in 2008 thus far. Areas like Weber and Cache County where the appreciation was more gradual are still seeing rising home prices.

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Provo Utah Named one of 10 best places to live, work, play.

According to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The Provo/Orem metro area is one of the United States top ten places to live work and play. The criteria Kiplingers used to select the “best cities” are those with strong economies, good job growth, a reasonable cost of living, and abundant nearby recreation. I guess this is good news for Provo, as there are plenty of homes for sale that aren’t moving. Everybody wants to live in a “top ten” US location for quality of life right?… Hopefully, the national exposure will lure many wealthy people to jump ship and hurry and move to Happy Valley while buying the overabundant supply of high end housing and helping the market resume to a more normal level of inventory….

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Utah County Home Sales Way Down Q1 2008

You could say the housing market in Utah County is in pretty bad shape. Home sales in the first quarter were almost half of what they were in ‘2007. There were 511 less residential homes sold this year than last, and home prices even declined by about 5%. Happy Valley may not be so happy in the real estate market.

Only 717 residential houses and condos were sold in Utah County during the first Quarter. Currently there are 4,945 single family homes for sale in Utah County. At the first quarter rate of 239 homes sold each month, it would take 1 year and 8 months just to sell the homes currently for sale, and more homes are listed every day.

If you are trying to sell in Utah County, I would recommend dropping the price now, otherwise your property will be on the market for a very long time.

If you are looking to buy, you have plenty of selection. Unless the property you like is a screaming deal, make your offer low, the seller isn’t very likely to be receiving many other offers any time soon.

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Salt Lake first quarter home sales officially down 42.21%

Home sales are down a little bit more than a little bit for the Salt Lake area for the first quarter of 2008. There were nearly half as many residential properties sold in Salt Lake County during the first quarter of 2008 compared to home sales in the first quarter of 2007.

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Salt Lake Board of Realtors Claims that Home Sales in Utah are Up, Prices are Down

KSL is airing an optimistic outlook for Utah Housing. They are claiming that the Utah Housing slump may have reached a low and is already on the rebound. Ryan Kirkman, the Vice President of The Salt Lake Board of Realtors notes that home sales increased 19% in February compared to January MLS homes sold. He said,

That represents a huge change from the same time a year ago.Kirkham said, “I actually pulled up the numbers for 2007. The numbers went from, went up only 2 properties sold more in February ‘07 than January ‘07. So that’s really good. I think we’re encouraged by this.”"February’s double-digit rise in sales is welcome news and follows three consecutive months of month-to-month sales declines,” said Jillinda Bowers, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. “At $225,000, Salt Lake County’s median sales price for homes and condominiums is not over-inflated.” 

The more negative news, not reported, is that although home sales did increase in February compared to January, they are only a fraction of the 2007 numbers. In February of 2007, 1148 homes were sold in Salt Lake County. This year, just 737 homes wer sold and we had an extra day. In addition, home sales in February are nearly always higher. Home sales have been higher in February every year since the WFRMLS started keeping statistics in 1995, with the exception  of 2003. Part of it is a seasonal thing. Not as many people try to buy houses in December, and so January real estate sales are usually low. 

I also disagree with the statement by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors President that home prices are not over-inflated.  First off, although the median price of homes and condos sold was just $225,000, the median price of homes on the market is $336,000 for houses, and $215,000 for condos. This is very over-inflated. Obviously the low end homes are the ones that are selling. The thousands of high end vacant spec homes are not. The average price of Salt Lake County homes on the market is $446,000. Either these prices are over-inflated, or else there are just way too many big houses for sale.

 

  

Utah May See Property Tax Reduction

Governor Huntsman said that their will probably be some property tax relief for much of Utah. Property taxes nearly doubled on some Utah Houses as property values have shot up the last few years.

The governor said again Thursday that Utahns have already seen major tax cuts, including a restructuring of the state income tax system that included a drop in the rate to 5 percent. “That is something we all need to keep in mind,” he said.

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Utah’s “Other” Real Estate Market - Park City

Park City has a real estate market all of its own. The average home price is 10 times the average for the state as a whole. It is not even included in the statewide statistics. Take a look at the houses and condos for sale in the Park City UT Real Estate Market. You can get a condo for $100,000, but it will only be for two weeks out of the year! You can also get a condo for $150,000, but its a 250 square foot studio! That’s the size of the average Park City Bathroom! Park City, it’s a real estate market of its own.read more | digg story

Is the Utah Real Estate Market In Danger of Crash?

Utah was one of the bright spots for a weak national real estate economy in ‘07. While many local areas had price declines, Utah had double digit price appreciation. Three Utah Metro’s were in Business Week’s top five for highest appreciation for the third quarter. When foreclosures went up throughout the nation, they went down in Utah.

While examining the 2007 Home Sales stats, I noticed some numbers that seem a bit out of whack. The trend is consistent, but it is especially obvious in Utah County. While home sales are way down, average prices are still up. However, the alarming thing is the average price of homes on the market now. Are we headed for the same real estate destiny as California, Nevada, and Arizona? Did real estate investors artifiitially inflate our housing economy? Were builders a little too optimistic in their housing projections? Will new construction homes sit on the market unsold until foreclosure? Or is the Utah economy really healthy enough to handle the large inventory of homes on the market.

Here are the 2007 home sales statistics.

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