Although the signs of an improving real estate market aren’t yet widespread, they are beginning to be seen in greater frequency along the Wasatch Front, especially at lower price ranges. Although it’s still a buyer’s market, this is shaping up to be the most active springtime home-buying season in five years.
In the first quarter of the year, 2,156 homes sold in Utah’s most populous county, up 18 percent from 1,830 during the same three-month period in 2011, the Salt Lake Board of Realtors reported.
Home values, however, have not stopped falling in many areas of Utah’s most populous region. The median single-family home price fell to $190,500, down almost 5 percent from $200,000 in the first quarter of 2011 and a peak of $256,000 in the summer of 2007. The same trend of home-sale increases and selling-price declines can be seen in most areas along the Wasatch Front.
But the price declines are starting to get smaller, and in some areas values are even stable compared to last year. But more importantly, sales generally are up substantially over last year, a particularly bad year for Utah real estate. The amount of time homes remain on the market before they sell also is moving in the right direction, in Salt Lake County falling an average of 13 percent to 122 days over the past year. Salt Lake Tribune
