Sandy — Home sales on the Wasatch Front slowed in the second quarter, increasing the number of houses for sale on the market.
In the April-May-June period, single-family home sales fell to 2,800 in Salt Lake County, down 15 percent from 3,303 sales in the second quarter of 2021. Condominium sales in the county fell to 1,051 units sold, down 23 percent from 1,373 sales a year ago.
Across the five-county Wasatch Front, single-family sales settled at 7,140, down 10 percent from 7,921 sales a year earlier.
“After two years of a frenzied market with multiple offers tens of thousands of dollars above asking price, Utah’s real estate market is approaching normalcy,” says Dejan Eskic, chief economist of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors® and senior research fellow at the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “Instead of a home taking a couple days to sell, it probably will take a few weeks.”
In the second quarter, new listings of homes for sale in Salt Lake County increased to 5,589, up 5 percent from a year ago. As of July 28, active listings statewide on UtahRealEstate.com totaled 9,326, up 160 percent from 3,593 a year earlier.
The median price of a single-family home sold in Salt Lake County in the second quarter increased to $625,000, up 19 percent from $525,000 in the same period last year. The median price of a condominium climbed to $445,000, up 22 percent from $365,000 last year.
Rising inventories will begin to favor home buyers. In addition to more houses for sale, last year was a record-breaking year in the number of residential permits issued in the state of Utah, helping to erase a statewide cumulative housing shortage, according to a recent report commissioned by the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®.
In 2021, the number of new housing units permitted far exceeded that of new households (marriages, divorces, kids leaving home, net in-migration, etc.); 40,144 housing units compared to 26,689 new households. After the record year of 2021, the statewide cumulative housing shortage now stands at 31,000 compared to about 56,000 in 2017.
About the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®
The Salt Lake Board of Realtors® is the Wasatch Front’s voice of real estate and the No. 1 source for housing market information. The Salt Lake Board of Realtors® is the largest shareholder of UtahRealEstate.com, one of the leading Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the United States. Since 1917, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors® has been a leader in promoting homeownership and protecting private property rights. The Salt Lake Board of Realtors® empowers its members to better serve the public by providing continuing education, advocacy, and a professional code of ethics.
About UtahRealEstate.com
UtahRealEstate.com is where real estate listings originate, and it is the official property information platform for real estate professionals in the state of Utah. We proudly serve approximately 96 percent of all Realtors® in the state of Utah, according to T3 Sixty 2021 Real Estate Almanac. UtahRealEstate.com operates one of the largest Multiple Listing Services (MLS) in the United States.