Salt Lake City — Sales plummeted by double-digit percentages in this year’s third quarter as house prices climbed to record levels, according to UtahRealEstate.com.

In Salt Lake County, the median single-family home price increased to $550,000, a new quarterly high and a 28% rise over the $430,000 median price in the third quarter of 2020. Homebuyers in this year’s third quarter paid $120,000 more than a year ago.

“A recent report by the University of Utah shows that more than half of Utah’s households are now unable to afford the median single-family home,” says Matt Ulrich, president of the Salt Lake Board of Realtors®. “The report confirms that Utah is in the midst of a housing shortage that will take years to put in balance.”

The median single-family home prices in Utah, Davis, Tooele, and Weber counties also set new quarterly record highs. For the first time, Utah County’s median single-family home price surpassed the half-million-dollar mark. Davis County was close behind with a median price of $497,000. Tooele County ended the quarter with a median of $440,000, while Weber County, the most affordable county in the Wasatch Front, saw its median single-family home price rise to $400,000.

As home prices soared, sales dived. In Salt Lake County, single-family home sales fell to 3,469 units sold, down 20 percent from a year earlier. Davis, Utah, and Weber counties also witnessed double-digit declines in sales.

Despite declining sales, this year is on track to be the second-best year in overall home sales. From January through September, there were 13,294 housing units sold in Salt Lake County (all housing types included), down 5 percent from 13,975 units sold during the same nine-month period in 2020. Last year more than 19,200 homes were sold in Salt Lake County, a record.

New listings in Salt Lake County in the third quarter fell to 5,667 units, down 7 percent compared to the same period in 2020.

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.